Dear Jinx
by neon rose
Summary: Kid Flash really does talk too fast, inspired by the books 'finding cassie crazy' and 'from e to you'
1. Chapter 1

"You know, your team are kind of… well… idiots." Kid Flash pointed out as he followed Jinx down an alley.

"Urgh, I know- I, hey! Didn't I tell you to stop that?" Jinx snapped at him as she continued walking.

"Yep." Kid Flash smiled happily at the back of Jinx's head.

"And didn't I tell you to stop following me? I'm fairly sure that stalking is a crime, go arrest yourself." Jinx added irritated.

"Well, most people don't have whole conversations with their stalkers whilst their stalking them, so one would assume that said stalking is consensual and therefore not stalking really, so not a crime." Kid Flash pointed out happily.

"I _have_ to talk to you." Jinx groaned hopping over a tipped over garbage can, Kid Flash set the can on it's base again and with his civic duty completed chased after Jinx again.

"Because I'm unbelievably attractive, witty and charming?" Kid Flash grinned walking alongside Jinx, he flashed her a gleaming white smile.

"No, because you wouldn't shut up otherwise." Jinx growled shoving the red head into the wall.

"Aww, that hurt." Kid Flash pouted at her unfazed by the violence.

"What? Me shoving you into the wall or me saying that I don't like listening to your witty banter?" Jinx asked rolling her eyes.

"See, you DO think I'm witty!" Kid Flash laughed happily, Jinx screamed and turned on her heel to face him, her face a very picture of murderous rage.

"GOD! Will you shut up! I swear you talk too fast for me to work out what you're saying and you catch me out and make me say things I don't mean! It's not fair! Just… shut up!" Jinx shouted poking Kid Flash in the chest, he stared at her silently for a moment.

"I talk too fast?" Kid Flash asked after a second.

"Yes!" She yelled waving her hands in the air.

"You want me to stop talking to you?" He asked slowly.

"Yes! God, for someone so fast you REALLY are slow!" She moaned smacking her forehead, a strange and unidentifiable look crossed Kid Flash's face for a split second, too fast for Jinx to identify what it was.

"Okay then." He said simply and disappeared, Jinx stood still as the affect of Kid Flash running off in the enclosed space of the alleyway caused a huge drag of wind to rush past her. Slowly she opened her eyes, there was no Kid Flash.

"Very funny Kid Flash." Jinx said dryly with her arms crossed waiting for him to return, surprisingly there was no kid flash. After a moment she checked the ground around her for roses and even her hair, the little bastard could be tricky after all.

"Kid Flash?" She asked after a moment, there was still no response and much to her surprise, she was annoyed that there was STILL no kid Flash in the alleyway. After about thirty seconds Jinx turned and continued walking the way she had been going before, several paces away she snapped her head back around in case Kid Flash was following her in secret, but there was still no Kid Flash.

"Jerk." Jinx muttered to herself and stormed off back to the HIVE headquarters. The door to her room slid open with a comforting hiss, Jinx glanced around her room for any signs of Kid Flash as she had been doing the whole way back to the base, but as before there was none. Jinx felt strangely abandoned as she flopped down on her bed.

"Ouch!" She yelped as something hard and pointy poked her in the ribs, Jinx rolled over and picked up the offending object. It was a book, it certainly wasn't hers. The cover was purple and smooth, not a glossy smooth but more a felt-like luxurious smooth, it was a marbled purple and black cover. She had to admit it was very pretty. Out of the bottom poked a little gold ribbon that served as a place marker, she pulled it and it opened to the cover page, it had the word 'Diary' written in fancy gold lettering.

"Huh." Jinx mused curious, she flipped to the next page, expecting it to be blank but to her surprise there was writing on it.

20th April

Introduce yourself

_Dear Diary,_

_A girl I like was very mean to me today, she told me that I talk too fast, which kind of hurt my feelings. However, being the brilliantly minded person that I am I came up with a solution! You want to hear it? I know you do. Okay, I bought her this diary! Yes, I can hear the applause now for my brilliance. See, now I can say what I want to her and she can read it at her own pace, think back suitably witty retorts to me and feel better. Then everyone wins, she gets to be snarky to me and I get to talk to her still! Yay! Hm. You don't seem to appreciate my brilliance that much diary, I think maybe I should talk to Jinx instead, she's prettier than you anyway._

_Hello Jinx!_

_No, I haven't gone mad, see, you can write to me. Seriously I can just run into your room any time and pick this up and write back to you, it'll be fun. See, it has lots of space for us both to write on each day, and they even have cute little suggestions at the top of each page for things to do the next day, see this one says introduce yourself, but I guess you can do that now._

_The love of your life,_

_Kid Flash!_

**Dear Meatbrain,**

**Go play in traffic.**

**Better than you,**

**Jinx**

21st April

Think of three things that make you happy!

_Dear Jinx,_

_Aww come on, don't be like that, see I went through all the effort of writing to you, you could at least write something NICE back. Please? And technically my brain IS made of meat, so is yours, what else would it be? I suppose I should do the suggestion huh? Okay, three things that make me happy… oh! One- Jinx smiling, despite it's rarity I'm told it does happen, I expect it will be the most beautiful thing in the world, Two – Spandex (you know you love it too Jinx! -), Three – uh… being a hero. Yay! I did it! Come on Jinx, you do it too. Please?_

_The best superhero ever,_

_Kid Flash!_

**Dear Brainless,**

**You ARE aware that I could just sit up waiting for you to show up with my level four containment field don't you? You're willingly walking into what could be a trap every time you come here. You are an idiot.**

**Three things that make me happy?**

**1) messing with the minds of the Teen Titans.**

**2) The thought that Kid Flash might one day NOT be an idiot.**

**3) silence in this damned base, I assume it would make me happy, I don't know as it NEVER HAPPENS.**

**I'll be waiting up with my level four containment field.**

**The most evil villan ever,**

**Jinx**

22nd April

Name one thing that makes you insecure and resolve not to let it anymore

_Dear sneaky Jinx,_

_You looked adorable when I ran into your room, curled up on your bed with that containment field remote. See, I can call you adorable now without fear of you maiming me! One thing that makes me insecure? Me? Insecure? Never, I'm perfect aren't I? Hmm, I suppose if I'm expecting YOU to be honest with me in this thing I should be too. One thing that makes me insecure? Jinx acting like she hates me, how I resolve to change it? By charming Jinx off of her feet so she sees how wonderful I am and loves me. How do I plan to accomplish this? By granting her wish of course! Enjoy the silence Jinx, it'll only last for tonight, unless your boys are really REALLY bad with directions._

_Making you love me little by little,_

_Kid Flash!_

**To that goddamned Kid Flash,**

**First of all, I am never adorable, I am terrifying. I am a villain! Villains are not adorable, ever. Secondly, where are my team? The base is empty. A thought just occurred to me, you did this didn't you? If my team are in jail I'll break your fingers, and other things too. Nothing makes me insecure.**

**Suspicious,**

**Jinx.**

23rd April

Enjoy something special

_Dear sleeping beauty,_

_I've never seen you so peacefully sleeping at this hour before (no I won't tell you what hour it is in case you try to wake up for that hour to zap me) I hope you enjoyed your day of silence, it seems to have helped your sleep, don't worry they're not in jail, they're walking back from three states away, I figured they'd hijack a few cars so I put them extra far away. At least you seem to be starting to write more to me, and you've stopped calling me names, so I can only assume that this is progress and you're trusting me a little more. Mind you, last time I told you to trust me you attacked me, so I'm glad you're asleep as I'm writing this. The special thing I'm going to enjoy today is your peaceful and calm expression as you sleep, I never see you when you're not scowling or angry or scheming, or worryingly enough, stressed out and unhappy. I'd rather see contented sleeping Jinx than unhappy stressed Jinx. I ought to put your team away more often if it makes you happy, just say the word. Also you didn't say what it was that makes you insecure, you must have something, come on, I told you mine. I was trusting you Jinx, tell me?_

_Your prince charming,_

_Kid Flash!_

**Kid Flash,**

**I have to admit it was kind of nice having a day without the moron squad around, though they were so angry and noisy when they got back that you almost needn't have bothered. The thing I enjoyed today was a nice hot and most importantly QUIET bath. You'd better have not been watching my serene expression then hero-boy. I still could turn you over, after the impromptu holiday you gave the others they'd be up for catching you, you know.**

**P.S – I'm not telling you, some diary with instructions in isn't going to make me tell you my secrets.**

**Not a damsel in distress,**

**Jinx.**

24th April

Enjoy a day with a friend

_Oh pink haired one,_

_What do you think of today's suggestion for tomorrow? You and I could go out somewhere, the movies maybe? And I don't mean as Jinx and Kid Flash, I mean just as normal civilian teenagers. Come on, when was the last time you did something NORMAL, mind you it's been a while since I did something normal. It doesn't even have to be a date, see it says friend at the top of the page. Please Jinx? I'll check back at the end of the day to see if you've written back._

_Shaken, not stirred,_

_Flash, Kid Flash! _

**Oh bond wannabe**

**Don't you think there are several flaws in your plan? First if we're not Jinx and Kid Flash, therefore out of uniform, how would I find you? Plus, what will you say? What kind of popcorn do you think I like? You're completely unprepared for this Kid Flash, you're in over your head.**

**Not a Bond Girl,**

**Jinx.**

_To she who is prettier than bond girls,_

_I had to ring the doorbell to distract you so I could write this, so I'll be quick. I'll look for you then so you don't have to look for me, I'll tell you what, I'll wait for you outside of the movie theatre, the one in the middle of the city, by the park. How about I bring you a rose? Then you can find me too. Tomorrow, at eight. Come on Jinx, give your favourite super-hero a break, please?_

_Waiting for you,_

_Kid Flash!_

**Kid Flash,**

**FINE FINE! Stop pestering me already, I'll go. Tomorrow, eight. Now quit bugging me.**

**Jinx.**


	2. Chapter 2

Kid flash, or rather, Wally West, stood nervously outside the movie theatre. What if Jinx really was going to set him up? It'd get to eight and the HIVE five would jump out and catch him. He shook his head, what was he thinking, CATCH him? He was the fastest boy alive. Nervously he tapped his foot faster than any normal person should have been able to. He felt vulnerable without his mask on, he looked down at his rarely worn civilian clothes. He had a white T-shirt under a red shirt that hung open, he was in beige Khaki trousers and looked over all, quite normal.

Wally West glanced down at his watch, it was ten past eight. He shrugged, so she was late, not everyone had super-speed and the ability to ALWAYS be on time. She probably just got held up by her team asking her questions. He twirled the red rose between his fingers idly.

Wally was starting to become aware that the girls in the ticket sales booth were giving him pitying looks, they thought he'd been stood up. Granted Jinx was in fact twenty minutes late, but he wasn't stood up that was for sure. He glanced up at the movie timetable, they couldn't see swamp monsters from mars now, which to be fair wasn't a great loss to the night.

Wally was starting to feel a little rejected, Jinx was now half an hour late, even SHE couldn't be that slow accidentally. He stepped out from under the shelter of the movie theatre awning and looked up and down the street, he couldn't see Jinx on her way up the street.

He sighed and sat on the kerb it had been forty five minutes now, he glared at the rose in his hand and felt foolish. Maybe Jinx HAD stood him up.

"No." He muttered to himself, Jinx wasn't a cruel person, despite what everyone else thought. She wouldn't stand him up. He looked at his watch, he'd give her until nine, then he was out of there, he was sick of the pitying looks of the movie theatre staff.

"She loves me not." Wally finished as he plucked the last petal off of the rose. He bit his lip, Jinx really had stood him up, she'd humiliated him publicly. A hot tear ran down his cheek, he felt so stupid, so ashamed and so damn angry.

"Are you okay son?" A voice asked from behind him, it was some man who worked at the movie theatre.

"I'm FINE." He replied a little too loudly, he turned his back and stalked off.

25th April

Say hello to a friend

**Kid Flash? Aren't you going to say hello to a friend? I'm not used to being the first person to write in this on any day… Listen, I didn't stand you up at the movie theatre, I was being chased by cops, by the time I got there you were gone and there were just a load of rose petals on the floor.**

**Sorry,**

**Jinx**

26th April

Tell someone a secret

_Jinx._

_I have nothing to say. Here's a secret, you humiliated me._

_Kid Flash._

**Flash,**

**Don't be like that, I told you it wasn't my fault! I got chased by cops, I hadn't even done anything wrong, they just recognised me and chased me! I'll tell you a secret if you come back, I'll tell you what it was that makes me insecure.**

**Please?**

**Jinx**

27th April

write something new about yourself

_Jinx,_

_I'm listening._

_Kid Flash_

**Kid Flash,**

**Fine, I'm sorry okay. Really. Argh, it makes me insecure when people think they know me without even talking to me, like I'm just a 'type' to them. I don't want to be a type, I'm me. Happy now? I told you my secret, now stop sulking, this damn diary idea was yours in the first place. I should have just let you stop talking to me, you're a good guy, I'm one of the bad guys, we shouldn't even be talking at all. I should have ambushed you at the movie theatre not tried to meet you there.**

**Jinx**

28th April

**Forgive someone today**

_Jinx,_

_Okay… fine. I waited there for an hour you know, do you know how LONG an hour is for me? Do you know how many times I could have run around the earth in that time? And don't think I'm dumb enough to fall for you scribbling out today's suggestion and writing your own. It's in your handwriting. I suppose I forgive you if it was an accident._

_See, if you gave up your life of crime this kind of thing wouldn't happen. Then we could go to the movies any time we wanted without you nearly being arrested._

_But your secret is interesting, did you think that I thought I knew you from first sight? I didn't, I knew you were interesting (and pretty) but the reason why I followed you around all the time was because I WANTED to know you. So you have no reason to feel insecure around me._

_Still a little hurt,_

_Kid Flash._

**Kid Flash,**

**I guess you figured me out huh? Not about the secret thing, about the changing the suggestion thing. How about I make up the missing the movie thing with you? There's this coffee bar on main street called ice, we both show up any time between four and five tomorrow afternoon and the first one to recognise the other wins? BUT! We've both got to be in disguise, (so I won't be arrested!) bring a flower of some kind and the first to give the flower to the other person wins. You're not allowed to say anything to the other person, after you give the flower you have to leave straight away leaving the person who lost in the café. **

**Scheming as always,**

**Jinx.**

_Jinx,_

_Okay, I'm game. But why can't I talk to you after we've found each other? How about we make it interesting then if we can't talk to each other, whoever wins gets to pick the time, place, and activity of the next time we meet up and the other person HAS to do it. You up for the challenge?_

_More scheming than you,_

_Kid Flash!_

**Kid Flash,**

**Prepare to lose. Also, stop ringing my doorbell so you can write in here during the day, it's starting to annoy me and my team.**

**The obvious winner,**

**Jinx.**

Jinx sat in the café, her head down sipping her coffee. The wig that she wore under her hat itched, it wasn't even that long, very little of the blonde hair hung down, she figured too much would look too false and give her away. The bell over the door rang, Jinx tilted her head slightly so the brim of her hat put her eyes in shadow, she looked up. A blonde boy with ruffled hair entered, he wore a scruffy brown coat, Jinx shook her head, almost dislodging the small pink flower she had tucked discreetly in the band of her hat, Kid Flash would never look scruffy. And that dark blonde hair moved like real hair, not like a wig anyway. She watched him patiently just in case, the boy bought his coffee and left, Jinx looked down at her own drink and gasped, a small daisy head was floating on the surface of her coffee. How… how had he done it? She'd never taken her eyes off of him! And how did he know it was her?

Jinx looked up and out of the wide glass windows with her mouth hanging open in shock, the blonde boy turned to look at her through the window, he pulled a silly face at her and grinned cheekily. He mouthed the words 'I win' at her, Jinx fumed. She could see him laugh as he dropped his coffee in a bin and ran off.


	3. Chapter 3

29th April

A/N: Hey everyone, I've been really busy writing another TT fic that I want to get half finished but I wanted to add more to this story first, it's been so long and I really liked this one. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one even though it's more realtime than diary, though I promise that the next chapter will be a little more diary at least. I hope you enjoy this extra long chapter anyway, as always reviews and helpful comments are welcomed and appreciated.

29th April

Enjoy some 'me' time today

_How did you do it? I mean it! How?! I was watching you the entire time! I never saw you move or even look at me, and I never felt that breeze of when you move ludicrously fast near me. How did you do it? I want answers boy!_

_Jinx_

_(and where did you get a wig that good anyway?)_

**Wow, you must be desperate to know how I did it if that's how little you're going to write! Hm, maybe I shouldn't tell you, maybe it should be just my secret. Or maybe I'll tell you when you agree to meet up with me at the place and time of my choosing. But I will tell you this, it wasn't a wig. That was an hour of peroxide at work there, it was worth it though, you didn't recognise me at ALL! As for my 'me' time I'm gonna be hiding in my flat all day waiting until this evening when I can put red dye in my hair and look normal again, apparently if you do it too soon after bleaching it can make your hair fall out (scary!)**

**KF**

_Whoa, you bleached your hair just for that challenge? How did you even learn to bleach your hair anyway? I want another look! Don't dye it, I wanna see blonde Kid Flash! Make that your choice, I'll meet you somewhere so I can inspect how good a bleaching you gave yourself!_

_Jinx_

_P.S: I wouldn't keep ringing the doorbell, the boys are getting really mad, they're considering installing lasers._

**NOW you tell me. They only just missed! Scorched my suit no less! But okay, you can see my hair if you want. You can meet me at my place (because I'm NOT wandering around outside looking like this at anything less than the speed of sound, got it? It's 28a lakefield, it's the big tower downtown, it's the third floor. **

**Waiting for you,**

**Kid Flash.**

Kid Flash wandered with a stretch through his flat, he glanced at the clock, it was nearly half six and he'd heard hide nor hair from Jinx. Not that she had any non-diary way to get in touch with him. Suddenly there came a furious hammering on his door, he quickly opened it to find a terrified looking blonde girl there, his mind clicked suddenly and realised it was Jinx in a wig.

"Cops!" She hissed, pressing herself to the door and shooting a furtive glance down the hallway, Kid Flash could hear footsteps coming. He quickly opened the door fully and Jinx darted in and flattened herself to the wall on the hinge side of the door, he quickly but quietly shut the door.

"What did you do?" He hissed at her worried she was unscrupulously using his place as a hide out after committing a crime, he could feel his mentor scolding him immensely for giving out his address so freely, to a known criminal no less.

"I was just walking here! In a very good disguise I might add, goddamn cops." Jinx muttered smoothing her brown suede dress, Kid Flash noticed the thick white tights and matching brown boots, she looked very stylish he noted. He was glad to have only just changed into his own clothing, it would have been odd for Jinx to have come to his house in her civilian clothes and for him to be in uniform, it would have no doubt have put her on edge.

"This is becoming something of a habit for you, getting chased by cops whenever you're meant to be seeing me." He smiled warmly at her, Jinx rolled her eyes at him.

"Well be glad I made it here this time and didn't stand you up like before." She replied, her ear picked up the heavy footsteps coming down the hallway and she fell silent. A loud knock fell on the door and Jinx held her breath, Kid Flash waited a few seconds before opening the door.

"Oh, hello officers. Is there a problem?" He asked looking convincingly surprised.

"Have you seen a young girl come through here? She's a known criminal in disguise, blonde? Brown dress?" The first officer prompted sternly.

"Gosh, no officer. I've not seen a soul. Good luck in catching her though." Wally nodded and closed the door after a few obligatory thankyous and goodbyes.

Kid Flash turned to Jinx with a small smile on his face to find Jinx shaking her head.

"That. Was an awful pun." Jinx smirked at him.

"I try." He grinned back. He noticed Jinx's eyes flick up to his bleached hair, he reddened, he knew it looked silly on him and it made him feel enormously self conscious and now Jinx was staring at it. He fidgeted and turned away from her, pressing his back against the wall and staring fixedly at a point on the other wall trying to ignore the redness he could feel on his face. Suddenly Jinx was remarkably close to him as she reached up a hand and tangled it in his hair, stroking it and running her fingers through it. Kid Flash squeezed his eyes shut as his throat went try, this wasn't like Jinx at all.

"Hey, it doesn't look that bad, it actually kind of suits you in an odd way. Don't look so embarrassed." Jinx said stepping back and throwing her bag on Kid Flash's sofa. Kid Flash opened his eyes again, feeling safe to trust himself now that Jinx wasn't quite so close.

"It looks silly, it'll be back to red tomorrow." He muttered running his hands through it. He couldn't really place why he'd gone to such an extent just to win the challenge and make sure Jinx didn't recognise him, but he had done it nonetheless.

"Well it still feels pretty healthy and you did a good job too. Maybe you're secretly a hairdresser in real life." Jinx smirked at him.

"Yeah right, and what do you mean real life? This _is_ real life." Kid Flash shot back with a grin before wandering into the kitchen.

"Did you eat before you came here? I was going to cook for you." Kid Flash asked as he opened the fridge.

"You cook?" Jinx asked surprised as she followed him into the kitchen and hopped up onto the work surface to watch him.

"Yeah, I don't really get a choice having to live alone. Plus with my metabolism I need to know how to make things that'll actually keep me fed." Wally laughed as he pulled his ingredients out of the fridge and closed it after him with a bump of his hip. Jinx watched him with curiosity as the boy fell almost completely silent as he carefully sliced onions and mushrooms into small even pieces, he looked calm, composed and focused not at all like the babbling energetic boy she thought she knew.

"I thought you'd be doing this at high speed, like all those professional chefs, not that it'd be hard for you to do anything at high speed." Jinx said breaking the silence. Kid Flash shook his head and continued shopping.

"With cooking there's something to be said for taking your time, and even if you rush through the preparation food cooks at it's own speed, even powers of super speed mean you have to wait for food." Kid Flash smiled softly at her as he clicked a hob on and gently lowered an expensive looking wok onto it and threw a dash of oil in.

"I can't cook. I'm kind of jealous." Jinx said pulling a face and tugging the hot wig off, she threw it skilfully out the kitchen door and onto the sofa, with a sigh of relief she ruffled up her compressed pink hair.

"Everyone can cook, you look better without the wig by the way." Kid Flash grinned at her lopsidedly.

"Well I can't cook. Open flames and bad luck powers aren't exactly a great combo you know." Jinx said rolling her eyes.

"Nonsense, everyone can cook. Look I'll show you, if your powers are going off it's just because you're nervous and thinking it's going to go wrong, if you think like that then it will." Kid Flash said shaking his head at her, Jinx narrowed her eyes suspiciously at this.

"And you know so much about my powers how?" Jinx asked coldly.

"Because I pay attention, come on, I'll show you how to cook." He said taking her hand and pulling her off the work surface, Jinx gave a squeak of protest as he did so but he'd quickly thrust a wooden spoon in her hand, thrown the onions and mushrooms in the sizzling oil and trapped her between him and the sizzling pan blocking both of her escape routes to the side by leaning his arms on the counter on either side of the cooker.

"I can't do this!" Jinx squeaked backing into Kid Flash's chest.

"Sure you can, just stir it, it won't bite you." Kid Flash said into her ear, Jinx cautiously reached out and gave the roasting onions a prod, they hissed and spat at her in response.

"Come on, the Jinx I know isn't scared of anything." Kid Flash chided her and took her hand with the spoon in it and stirred the food with her.

"They look burnt." Jinx muttered as the two of them fried the onions and mushrooms.

"They look fine." Kid Flash replied gently next to her ear. Jinx fell silent and tried to ignore the oddness of the situation, she was essentially trapped in Kid Flash's arms, one ran along her side to rest on the edge of the work top and the other was firmly wrapped around her own hand helping her cook, his face was slightly behind and to the side of her head with his lips right next to her ear which caused shivers to run down her spine whenever he spoke. She'd have never imagined herself in such a compromising situation with a hero, even if it was Kid Flash, and yet she didn't feel too uncomfortable. She certainly had no desire to run for the hills or hex him and escape, she felt flushed and a little giddy maybe but not scared.

"It looks great, grab that packet there, the green one." Kid Flash instructed her, Jinx obligingly picked it up and opened it.

"Now pour the rice in, I'll say when." He said into her ear, Jinx reddened and tipped the small fat rice grains into the wok until he said stop.

"Quickly stir it, I'll be right back." He said and pulled away from her, the sudden sense of abandonment struck Jinx almost as hard as the wave of panic that hit her afterwards.

"What are you doing! Don't leave me! I can't cook!" She screeched wide eyed as she accidentally dropped the spoon, in a panic she bent down to get it and smacked her head on the porcelain edge of the cooker top.

"Whoa!" Kid Flash said concerned as he grabbed her around the middle and hauled her upright with one hand and flicked the wok and thus stirring the rice with the other.

"You okay?" He asked quickly taking the frying rice off the heat and turning to inspect Jinx's head.

"I told you I'm unlucky." Jinx mumbled rubbing the bump on her head.

"Bah, you're fine." Kid Flash said shaking his head before leaning down and kissing the reddening spot on Jinx's forehead, he realised his mistake all too late and pulled back wide eyed. Jinx could quite easily hit him or storm out now, or send him one of her painful hexes, she glowered at him a little instead.

"I- sorry… kiss it better…" He mumbled looking down embarrassed, what had he been _thinking_? And what was Jinx going to say? Things had been going so well this evening, even if he'd not originally intended this to be a date type evening the mood had seemed to go that way and if the recipe hadn't required the last ingredient from the fridge he'd have happily stayed standing close behind her warm body whispering in her ear, and she hadn't seemed to mind too much either. But now he'd gone and blown it. He was such an idiot, he stared as his dirty once white socks.

"I'm not a little kid you know." Jinx muttered rubbing the reddening patch of skin. Kid Flash allowed his eyes to widen hopefully as he looked up at her _'that's it?'_ he thought shocked, the idea that Jinx wasn't going to crucify him for his behaviour was a strange one, but he didn't want to jinx it, all puns aside. He quickly bent down to the floor and grabbed the wooden spoon and quickly rinsed it under the tap at high speed.

"I see you still do some things fast." Jinx teased him.

"I do have a reputation to keep." He quirked a smile at her, he held up a tupperware container of milky white liquid, "we need to add this." He added giving it a shake.

"What is that?" Jinx asked curiously.

"Oh, mushroom soup from the other day, made it myself." He added with a flourish as he opened the container.

"Why were we frying the rice anyway, I've never heard of that before." Jinx asked feeling her curiosity grow, she normally didn't like to show outright interest in anything but she had no real idea what they were cooking and Kid Flash was being such an interesting teacher, not a quality she would have guessed in him.

"Well normally you don't, but this is risotto, and it's good to give the rice a few moments to soak up the oil and flavour of the other vegetables before you add the water, or in this case, soup." Kid Flash shrugged as he poured the cold soup into the wok, Jinx craned her neck, the rice seemed to have entirely disappeared under the soup, she frowned, she couldn't see that working at all and coming out as anything other than a mess.

"You don't have to stand there and look at it, you helped cook this too." Kid Flash smiled at her offering a hand, Jinx ignored it but stepped closer to the stove again anyway.

"What now?" Jinx asked after a moment as she looked dubiously at their meal in the making.

"Just wait for the rice to soak up all the liquid and keep it stirred, the hard part's over." Kid Flash said with a smile.

"What's the dumb grin for?" Jinx asked flatly as she looked at Kid Flash.

"Well, you being so adamant that you can't cook you've managed to do a pretty passable job." He replied happily.

"Only passable?" Jinx asked raising an eyebrow, or what would have been an eyebrow if she'd had any.

"Well, you're not as good as me of course, although I would be more than willing to give you a few private lessons, the maestro might just be able to spare the time." Kid Flash said airily.

"Careful Kid, your ego's showing." Jinx snorted shoving him.

The two fell into a not uncomfortable silence, but not quite an entirely comfortable silence. Jinx sighed with a little note of happiness in it, Kid Flash's ears pricked up at this to notice that Jinx looked quite relaxed with her eyes closed and her arms folded loosely as she leant on the counter edge, his chest swelled a little at the thought that he'd done that.

"That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut the fuck up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence." Jinx said in a tone of voice that suggested that what she'd said was a quote, the back of his brain niggled that it was something familiar.

"Pulp Fiction?" He ventured cautiously, Jinx's eyes clicked open and she gave him a kilowatt smile that nearly blew him away.

"Very good." She smiled happily.

"See, you should do that more often." Kid Flash said softly.

"What? Quote Tarantino films?" Jinx asked perplexed.

"No, smile. It looks good on you, you should do it more often. You've too pretty a face not to smile." He said rolling his eyes at her before going back to stirring their food which was nearly ready, the grains of rice were growing bigger and the sauce was become creamy. Jinx reddened and looked away muttering 'whatever'.

"Mmm. Jinx, could you grab those plates on the draining board?" Kid Flash asked as he tasted their food, Jinx obligingly removed two plates and set them down, Kid Flash served up their food and took the plates to the table. Jinx followed and after a few moments of awkwardness of 'should I help or sit down' she decided on sitting down. Kid Flash returned with glasses of water and forks. Jinx cautiously stuck her fork into the white creamy pile of rice and mushrooms and tasted it, it was good, the rice was soft and the sauce pleasantly mushroomy broken only by the occasional tang of onion, all in all it was very pleasant.

"My compliments to the co-chef." Kid Flash grinned voicing her thoughts for her, Jinx laughed and continued eating. Jinx was pleasantly surprised to find that the dinner passed with comfortable pleasant conversation, they discussed Jinx's taste in films (violent surreal humour, perfect Tarantino) and Kid Flash's music taste (very broad but a surprising affinity for soundtracks from musicals). Kid Flash no longer seemed to be desperate and annoying now that Jinx was willingly and happily in his presence and he didn't seem to be brimming with as much high speed nervous energy, she guessed cooking was kind of cathartic for him, she supposed everyone had their ways of relaxing.

"What kind of hair dye did you get?" Jinx asked suddenly as the thought popped into her head suddenly, Kid Flash looked a little caught off guard by the sudden conversation change.

"The… red kind?" He said feeling a little confused, did she want to know the brand? He wasn't sure he could remember that.

"Can I see?" Jinx asked interested, Kid Flash shrugged and got up momentarily before returning with the box. He watched Jinx turn the package this way and that reading it carefully, her fork frozen halfway between the plate and her mouth, he smiled at this, she really was beautiful to him, he found an unexpected wave of affection surge in himself for the pink haired girl. Jinx closed one eye and held the box up level with Kid Flash's hair and compared it to the colour chart.

"I think you didn't read this." Jinx said after a moment and handed him the box back.

"What?" He asked with a frown, "But the colour on the front is practically identical to how mine was."

"Your hair's too light to get the colour on the box. Didn't you read the side, it comes out that colour on light brown hair." Jinx corrected him.

"Oh great." Kid Flash muttered sourly putting the box on the table.

"Well, it's not that bad, it'll still make you go red. And I reckon if you play around with the mix of developer and colour in there you might be able to get a colour close to it." Jinx said comfortingly.

"I don't know how to do that, ugh. Now I'm gonna have to go out like this to get more." Kid Flash said with a defeated slump.

"It's not that hard, honest." Jinx said reassuringly, the boy probably cared a lot about his hair and had just expected to be able to go blonde for a day or so and then get back to normal.

"Will you do it for me?" He asked hopefully, his eyes shining.

"What? No!" Jinx spluttered at this.

"Oh please Jinx, you seem to know what you're talking about. Please?" He begged her, Jinx looked away embarrassed for them both.

"No, just go to a hairdresser, they fix messes like this all the time." Jinx suggested still looking away, Kid Flash got up and moved in front of her.

"I don't have that kind of money Jinx, please help me?" He asked looking at her with big soulful blue eyes.

"Oh. Fine. But don't blame me if you come out looking dumb." Jinx snarled and got up.

"We're doing it now?" He asked surprised, Jinx hadn't even finished her food yet.

"Yes, now. Before I come to my senses and change my mind." Jinx growled grabbing a chair and dragging it to the linoleum covered kitchen floor.

"Sit." Jinx ordered pointing to it. He zipped over and pulled his shirt, this part at least he understood. Jinx reddened slightly feeling grateful that Kid Flash was looking the other way, she picked up the box and studied the instructions, they were all pretty standard. She identified which bottle was the developer with the bleach in it and carefully squirted a little of it down the sink, if she changed the balance he should end up with a slightly darker colour. She stared for a moment at his well defined back muscles before shaking herself to her senses.

"I need something to wear, because if you think I'm getting dye on this dress, you're out of your mind." Jinx said darkly.

"Here, wear this." Kid Flash offered holding up the shirt he'd just taken off.

"But you just took it off so you wouldn't get dye on it, why do you want me to wear it?" Jinx blinked confused.

"Eh, I've got a million like it." Kid Flash replied. Jinx held it up to herself, it was about as long as her dress on her. Reluctantly she reached around her back for the zipper and tugged down.

"Look and I'll squirt peroxide in your eyes." She threatened darkly.

"Yes ma'am." Kid Flash replied reddening and keeping his eyes fixed on the wall ahead of him and tried really hard to ignore the sounds of falling cloth from behind him, he swallowed hard.

"Okay… colour." Jinx mused after she'd folded her dress up and put it at a safe distance. She squirted the colour tube into the developer and shook it vigorously, it looked that abnormal beige colour that dye always looked before it developed. She took a deep breath and pulled on the cheap gloves included and proceeded to squirt the dye onto Kid Flash's hair. She tried to ignore the hitched breath from Kid Flash as the cold dye met his scalp and instead concentrated on not missing any hair, by the time she was done the first bits she had started on were pretty red already.

"Done." Jinx informed him as she carefully washed her gloves before taking them off, Kid Flash would need them when he washed the dye out later.

"Just leave it in for an hour and then wash it out." Jinx informed him.

"Will you stay with me for the hour at least? I've got movies and stuff." He offered hopefully, looking ridiculous in his dye filled hair.

"I guess. If only to see the results first hand rather than on some TV report." Jinx shrugged and made her way to the couch, Kid Flash followed her and sat down.

"Heh, you look like an angel, all in white." He smiled at her, Jinx glowered with a look that firmly said 'don't push your luck boy'. On par with the rest of the evening they soon settled into pleasant conversation and laughter over the film that was playing, it was the original 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' film.

"I always preferred this version." Jinx said with a smile.

"Not a Jonny Depp fan? I thought all girls loved him." Kid Flash smirked at her a voice in the back of his mind wishing that she'd say she thought he was cuter.

"Eh, he just didn't fit the part all that great. Some of the new one was a good take on it, but overall the first one was better, better sung too." Jinx added, she checked her watch.

"It's been an hour already?" Kid Flash asked catching sight of it.

"Yep, go wash." Jinx nodded, Kid Flash got up with a careful stretch and headed to the bathroom. Wiping the soap from around his eyes as the water ran clear Wally reached for a towel and dried his hair, he wiped the mirror free of steam and inspected himself, with delight he noted the colour was identical to his natural one. As he dried it though it became clear that this colour was a little lighter, somewhere between his own and a strawberry blonde, but her decided with a final ruffle of his hair that he liked it.

Jinx looked up as Kid Flash emerged from a cloud of steam from the bathroom clad only in jeans and a towel around his neck, his new hair colour looked pretty good. She got up, now back in her dress after she'd been certain that Kid Flash had left the room and wasn't going to catch her in between changing, and walked over to him to inspect his hair. She ruffled a hand through it and inspected the colour.

"Not quite the same, but still pretty nice." Jinx nodded in agreement to Kid Flash's own unspoken opinion. He blushed when Jinx unexpectedly stood on her tip toes and angled his head and buried her nose in his hair and inhaled deeply.

"That dye always smells nice afterwards." She smiled at him, the two stood in a somewhat awkward silence for a moment or two with Jinx desperately trying to ignore the few stray water drops that travelled from the still wet ends of Kid Flash's hair, down his neck, over his collar bone and down his bare chest.

"I'd… better go. It's getting late." Jinx murmured.

"Okay, thanks for coming over, couldn't have done this without you. It was nice having you over." He smiled at her earnestly, Jinx felt even more uncomfortable than before. Now faced with the prospect of the world outside Kid Flash's apartment the whole thing seemed so weird she'd just spent an evening of friendly banter with a super hero, ate with him, cooked with him, watched films with him and most surreal of all, dyed his hair for him. What on EARTH was she doing? Had she lost her mind? She shouldn't even be here.

Kid Flash watched with a sense of desperation as Jinx's face hardened and her mental barriers slammed back up with an almost audible sound all the ease and laughter of earlier in the evening was gone and he was faced with the Jinx who would have nothing to do with him.

"Bye." Jinx said quickly. _'what am I even doing here? We're worlds apart. Stupid stupid stupid' _Jinx cursed mentally.

"Wait," Kid Flash said desperately grabbing her arm as she turned to leave.

"We… should do this again sometime. Finish watching the rest of that film where I won't have to go take a shower halfway through." He offered with a hopeful smile, Jinx's mask slipped a little and she seemed less hard and more human.

"I'll think about it." Jinx said meaning what she said. Jinx opened the door and let herself out, Kid Flash waved her off hoping desperately that the cops wouldn't catch her between here and the HIVE hideout.


	4. Chapter 4

30th April

30th April

Read a good book today

**Whoa, what happened to your base? It's completely trashed and you don't look nearly relaxed enough to make me think you just took out your frustration on your team mates on your furniture. Is everything okay? As for the suggestion it's especially asnine today, how do you know something is a good book unless you read it? Do you have to keep reading books until you find a good one to do the suggestion? Silly diary.**

**KF**

_Ugh. Does it matter? The place doesn't look as bad as it did when YOU trashed our base._

_Jinx._

1st May

Pinch punch first of the month someone today!

**Hm. I totally would except I'm not NEARLY that suicidal to try that on you, hey, I just checked and it says that for EVERY first of the month, 265 suggestions my ass. And you base didn't look nearly this bad when I trashed it (and I apologised for that afterwards you may remember!). Is everything okay by the way? I'm kinda worried that your base got this trashed and you've not forced the others into slave labour to fix it by now, in fact it looks a little worse than yesterday.**

**KF**

_What are you, my maid? It so did look this bad. Pinch punch me and die._

_Jinx._

2nd May

Have a spring clean!

**That's kinda eerie. See, even the book thinks you should make them clean you base. Is everything okay by the way? You've been kinda…short with me. Did I do something wrong? I mean we seemed to be getting on so well the other day at my house and now you're practically ignoring me.**

**Worried,**

**Kid Flash**

_Stop worrying. And stop complaining about the state of my base._

_Jinx._

**Okay… well that just makes me worry more. Especially with all the full stops, it feels like you tried to stab through the page with that last one. So… are you mad at me or just mad at the world in general? Because you know, the first is a little easier for me to change.**

**Kid Flash.**

3rd May

_STOP RINGING JINX'S DOORBELL!_

_I mean it. Knock it off. I'm just going to remove it if you keep this up._

_Jinx._

**But I wanted to talk to you yesterday! Why didn't you write back then? Jinx, talk to me. Please?**

**Kid Flash.**

_That's it. The doorbell is gone._

_Jinx._

Kid Flash sighed as he dropped the diary back onto Jinx's empty bed. It was two am and Jinx wasn't here, no one was in the base in fact. Why was she acting like he'd done something wrong? He knew she'd be mad tonight as he'd seen on the news that the police had arrested Billy, Mammoth and Gizmo earlier that day for pickpocketing and stealing whole ATM machines (typical mammoth). But it still didn't explain why Jinx had been short with him for the past four days, and she hadn't explained why what little was left of her base was disappearing.

Kid Flash cast a glance over at where Jinx's writing table and vanity mirror used to be but the furniture was gone now, as were all of the still working TV's and big computer displays downstairs. Maybe she was trying to raise bail money for her team but then again the HIVE five had never seemed too short of money in the past what with how quickly they'd repaired the base after he'd trashed it and the quality of stuff they had, and it didn't seem likely that they'd stolen everything, some of it they must have bought to keep the base updated that quickly.

"What's wrong Jinx?" Kid Flash sighed to himself. At that moment his Titan's communicator went off, he flipped it open and read the words of his page from the police department.

'suspicious girl on roof' and co-ordinates.

Kid Flash rolled his eyes, the police department were just getting lazy now. All the same, he hoped it wasn't another jumper, he hated those. He reluctantly got up and sped off to the location of the so called suspicious girl.

He skidded to a halt on the rooftop and felt his face light up.

"Jinx!" He called happily before running up next to her and giving her a big grin, it was always nice to get to see her when she was awake.

"Oh, it's you. What are you doing here?" Jinx asked him suspiciously before going back to looking through her binoculars at the adjacent building.

"Police called you in, apparently you're a 'suspicious girl on rooftop'." Kid Flash grinned waving his communicator at her.

"They know I'm here? Damn." Jinx cursed quietly.

"Well sure, someone called it in. You are standing on the roof of a building at two am with binoculars looking into that other building." Kid Flash laughed, after a second he gave this some thought.

"Say, why ARE you on the roof of a building two am with binoculars looking into that other building?" He asked curiously.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to figure out that security system so I can get into that safe in that jewellery valuers over there." Jinx growled as she peered through the binoculars. Kid Flash straightened up and felt like someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water at him.

"You're committing a crime?" He breathed in shock.

"Trying to." Jinx said pointedly.

"See-more, you're good to go, just make sure to hit the middle of the window and you should be okay, that seems to be the weak spot. Don't miss, it's the only shot we've got." Jinx ordered into her HIVE communicator, Kid Flash's eyes widened as he spied See-More floating up from the street on a giant eyeball with some kind of device in his hands. He quickly grabbed a rock and threw it at See-More from the rooftop, knocking the gun like device from his hands and inadvertently shattering the window.

"Oops. I'll have to pay for that." Kid Flash said worriedly. He cast an eye over to Jinx who seemed frozen to the spot, he looked closer, she seemed to be shaking.

"Jinx?" He asked carefully, only because of his super speed did he manage to duck the punch that Jinx swung at him remarkably fast as she span on her toes.

"I'm going to kill you!" Jinx yelled lunging at Kid Flash.

"Ack!" He yelped jumping back.

"Jinx! Calm down! I had to stop him, I'm a hero it's what I do!" Kid flash squeaked as he ducked another angry swipe at him.

"And I'm a criminal, this is what **I **do!" Jinx snarled at him.

"Well what the hell are you doing trying to break into a high security place like that with… what was that, some kind of harpoon gun?" Kid Flash shot back.

"In case you hadn't noticed we're running somewhat low on equipment and boy geniuses thanks to you and the goddamn police department!" Jinx shouted at him.

"Hey, I had nothing to do with that, I just heard it on the news." Kid Flash said holding his hands up defensively.

"That's not the point! You don't get it! You're so… ignorant! You don't think do you? What makes you think that I just do this for fun?" Jinx shouting shoving Kid Flash backwards.

"What?" Kid Flash stammered.

"You said it yourself, I'm too smart for all this. Don't you think I know that? My team are morons and right now half of them are in jail and I NEED that money." Jinx said quietly.

"What do you mean need? You've never said anything about being hard up for cash and I've seen your base, you've got more than enough to keep yourself going." Kid Flash asked feeling confused.

"Not enough to pay the Triads I don't. They came in, smashed our base up and threatened us, we gave them everything we had, sold everything that wasn't already broken or worthless. But it still wasn't enough, so we all went out and worked short cons, pick-pocketing, dog in the bar, everything and anything to get cash fast. But they got caught and now I'm down to the two most useless members of my team which means that this time tomorrow I'm dead." Jinx sighed closing her eyes mournfully.

"So just… get out of it, refuse to pay them. Become a hero." Kid Flash offered hopefully.

"It's not that easy you idiot! You don't understand anything! You're so ignorant! Sure, it might be fine for you nice middle class white boys to just up and be a hero but the rest of us have had to claw and fight for everything we've got and unlike you the people on our own side will kill us for doing so. You can't just quit, people come after you and I'm not upsetting the Triads more than I have to and this was my last chance to get the money I needed. But YOU had to ruin it!" Jinx snapped angrily jabbing him in the chest.

"You claim to have morals and to stand up for those in need, but it's people like you that make us so hunted that make us have to make negotiations with people we don't want to who'll bleed us dry. You're not defending those in need or helping the helpless, you're helping other nice middle class people like you. You think I do what I do because I like having a laugh? Okay I enjoy defying authority figures but I had to claw my way to that luxury years of living hand to mouth trying to steal your way to your next meal and still never having the security of knowing that someone bigger and stronger than you won't just take that away at a moment's notice. Most of us aren't here out of choice, we're here out of necessity, forced here by an un-accepting unhelpful society and to add insult you call us evil, you call us villains. You're no hero Kid Flash, you're just a narrow minded idiot. And you'll never understand my world." Jinx said accusatorially, she turned and stalked over to the fire escape to get off the roof of the building.

"And you'll never understand me either." Jinx said quietly as she paused at the edge of the fire escape, in a flurry of footsteps she was gone.

Kid Flash sunk to the floor. He'd never considered that Jinx might not be on the side of evil because she wanted to be but maybe because she needed to be. He remembered Jinx trying to hand him over to the brotherhood of evil to get respect, he kind of understood that mentality, if people thought you were too big to be taken down then they wouldn't try. But she'd let him go, how big of a risk had that really been for her if that was the case?

And Jinx was right in a sense, his family couldn't have been much more of a middle class, hallmark card selling, Kodak moment family if they tried, aside from the occasional emergence of superpowers his family was completely average. He'd never felt hardship for money or food, sure he'd lost his parents but he'd never even considered what would have happened to him if he hadn't had the safety net of his aunt and uncle. There was never a chance that he'd end up on the streets stealing just to stay alive. Sure he thought stealing was wrong but if it were him would he choose dying of starvation for his morals or would he steal just to get by?

It was no wonder Jinx was mad at him, he'd just screwed up her life big time.

He frowned angrily. Someone had threatened Jinx though, _his Jinx_, and besides, extortion, breaking and entering and threatening people were crimes anyway. So he'd got Jinx in trouble. He would get her out of it… the only way that he knew how.


	5. Chapter 5

Jinx sat nervously on the sofa, on the coffee table in front of her was all the money that they had, it was only about half of

Jinx sat nervously on the sofa, on the coffee table in front of her was all the money that they had, it was only about half of what they needed to pay off the triads.

"So on a scale from one to totally screwed, I'd say we're totally screwed." See-More whined.

"Shut up. We'll have to negotiate or something, ask for more time, if we had any computers left I might have been able to do some credit card fraud but that's out of the picture." Jinx said picking at her lip nervously and staring at the money on the table willing it to double.

"We are SO screwed." See-More repeated.

"I SAID shut up!" Jinx snarled at him getting to her feet.

"You're our leader, wh-where's your brilliant plans when we need them?" See-More stammered.

"Just-" Jinx snapped but was interrupted by a loud banging on the door of their base. Jinx looked at the two remaining boys before slowly walking to the door, forcing herself to take deep breaths. She pressed her hand to the panel by the door and it jerkily opened to reveal at least eight angry looking men and two women there, Jinx's eyes flicked up to the nearby rooftops, she could see a figure up there so doubtless there were more triads that she couldn't see. She turned her gaze back to their leader, a big man who one would at first think fat, but she knew better, the guy was built like a sumo wrestler all muscle and what wasn't gave him more than enough momentum to flatten even mammoth.

"Where's our money?" He demanded gruffly.

"I- we've got half of it. We just need more time." Jinx said casting her gaze downwards, suddenly a fist the same size as her face grabbed a fistful of her dress front and lifted her off the floor and slammed her into the wall by the door, Jinx felt the wind knocked out of her.

"Did I ask for half? No. I gave you a figure, a very generous one I might add, and you can't even do THAT." The man spat at her.

"Put me down." Jinx growled at him her eyes lighting up.

"Of course my dear." The man grinned at her menacingly as he pulled her away from the wall and let go of her dress and letting her fall, he spun remarkably agile on one foot and kicked Jinx square in the ribs, sending her flying off to the side.

"Now, let's see if we can't come to some agreement about this money." He grinned at her nastily as he advanced towards the fallen Jinx cracking his knuckles. Suddenly a red and yellow blur smacked into the back of the leader sending him flying a good twenty feet.

"Didn't your mother tell you never to hit girls?" Kid Flash growled, his eyes flicked to the shocked triads who unfortunately weren't looking like they were going to stay shocked for long. Kid Flashed ducked and weaved as the mass that was the angry gang of Triads advanced on him, he zipped off a second later and returned with a very long chain. With a grin he ran around one conveniently clustered group chaining them together, in a matter of seconds he had one angry confused and protesting mass of Chinese gang members.

"Don't go anywhere." He smirked at them. He quickly ducked as another gang member lunged at him, they were cornering him together in a tight circle leaving him little room to manoeuvre, it didn't look too good. Jinx clutched her side in pain and slammed and hand to the floor sending a wave of hex energy rippling through the floor sending all the triads flying in a gush of water from the suddenly burst water main under their feet, unfortunately it also got Kid Flash too. Jinx winced; it was hard to be precise. In a second a soaked Kid Flash appeared at her side.

"You got me too." He pouted at her.

"Would you rather be stabbed by triads?" Jinx challenged.

"Hm. Suppose not. All the same…" he smiled before shaking himself like a dog and soaking Jinx, Jinx glowered at him and he grinned back at her.

"That guy's on fire." Kid Flash said surprised as he looked at the soaked triads.

"They have metahumans, if they were just normal thugs don't you think I could have chased them off myself?" Jinx said rolling her eyes, she glanced at the water main again, this was too easy. A second jet of water burst out of the mains soaking the 'guy that was on fire' as Kid Flash put it. He yowled like a wounded animal and fell to the floor, Kid Flash grinned and barrelled into them sending them flying like pins in a bowling alley.

Jinx watched in amazement as Kid Flash effortlessly dodged every attack and restrained every triad, he made it look easy, he even did it with grace and aside for the awful puns every so often he seemed like a master. She clutched her hand to her side, she was fairly sure her rib was at least cracked from that kick, it hurt like hell, she knew that much. She lay on the floor occasionally lending a hex or two to the boy's efforts but to be fair he hardly needed any help. In no time at all he had the whole gang tied up firmly to a lamppost further down the road and had made a quick call to the police department to collect them.

"You okay?" Kid Flash asked carefully pulling Jinx to her feet.

"My rib hurts like hell." Jinx winced holding onto Kid Flash's shoulder as she rubbed her rib.

"You don't have to worry about them anymore at least." Kid Flash offered trying to comfort her.

"Yeah and now everyone's going to be suspicious because you helped me out." Jinx shot back, Kid Flash looked a little hurt at this and Jinx regretted her words immediately.

"I just can't win with you can I?" He sighed deeply, Jinx looked down at his feet.

"Look. I'll only say this once okay, so listen up." Jinx said sternly, Kid Flash inclined his head looking interested, Jinx took a deep breath.

"Thankyou… for your help. If it weren't for you I'd probably be in an awful lot more pain right now, not to mention completely broke and stabbed. So… thanks." Jinx said staring fixedly at the floor.

"You're more than welcome." Kid Flash smiled stroking Jinx's face and happy that she let him.

"Yeah well don't get used to it." Jinx said grabbing his hand to take it away from her face but pausing for a second instead, she closed her eyes and sighed allowing just a second of having a normal life and a normal moment with a boy.

"I'm just glad I could help, I know you were mad at me last night for stopping you. But… I just wished you'd told me you were in this much trouble before." Kid Flash said softly.

"I don't need any help!" Jinx said sharply.

"Heaven forbid." Kid Flash replied quickly holding up his free hand defensively. Kid Flash heard mutterings from inside the building and quickly leaned in close to Jinx's face.

"Now all the danger's gone I think your lot are coming to help. You owe me for this." He whispered quickly into her ear and kissed her cheek lightly before disappearing in a gust of displaced air.

"Was it them?" See-More asked peeking around the door to see Jinx alone. Jinx looked around a little disorientated to see that the triads were missing from the lamp post up the street, she was almost sure she could make out a splash of red on the lamppost which she knew already was a rose. He'd run off with all the evidence of having helped her so she could save face in front of her team.

"No…" Jinx replied slowly trying to puzzle out why he would do such a thing. "Just some thugs who didn't know any better. Chased 'em off though." Jinx said proudly.

"Wonder when the triads will be here." See-More said nervously.

"Me too." Jinx murmured continuing inside.

At lunchtime Jinx sent See-More out to go get some food and listen out for any news knowing full well that he'd hear about Kid Flash miraculously catching the notorious triad gang, she tried to act shocked at this and told See-More to take the money and bail out the others and try and re-buy some stuff they needed. She went to her room, telling the others she wasn't going to be out for the rest of the day and not to disturb her, she wasn't surprised to see the diary in a different position on her bed than when she left.

4th May

learn a new skill today

**Hey, I know you're probably mad at me for interfering in 'villain business' but I had to help and I'm somewhat of a one trick pony when it comes to helping people, I hope none of your team realised it was me that got them for you, I don't want to get you into trouble with them (even though they're jerks and don't deserve someone like you anyway). What on earth were triads doing in this city anyway? Robin never mentioned them to me. Anyway, I'd better go apparently some news crews want to talk to me, ugh, normally I don't mind but I'd rather be talking to you.**

**Kid Flash**

Jinx closed the diary and walked downstairs and turned on the big TV that See-More had just 'acquired', shoved the recently bailed Billy Neumerous out the way and turned on the news to see to see the biggest pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen. Kid Flash smiled a winning smile at the cameras as he replied politely to the questions about his brave halting of the triad gang.

"I guess he saved our asses, even if he didn't know it." Gizmo mused thoughtfully.

"We don't have to thank him or nuthin' do we?" Billy asked despairingly.

"No, he'd be insufferable and annoying if we did." Jinx smirked. She narrowed her eyes at the TV screen, Kid Flash was fidgety, shifting from foot to foot as if he was anxious to run and not be there. She turned her head a little and studied his face, he was still smiling broadly but it didn't quite reach his eyes, not like she'd seen when he smiled at her. A thought occurred to her, he really didn't want to be there, just like he'd said. Kid Flash the attention craving superhero would rather be talking to her than bathing in the limelight and praise of the TV crew and the mayor.

"I'm going out." Jinx said quickly and dashed to the door. The HIVE five boys looked at each other and shrugged.

"Ugh, nag nag nag, do these people ever shut up?" Kid Flash muttered to himself as he walked home in civilian gear, he would have rather spent the day with Jinx but she was probably still mad at him, she hadn't even written in the diary either. He sighed and turned up his hallway and rested his hand on the door to his apartment, to his surprise it swung away from his hand, he groaned and looked down at the lock, it was clearly broken.

"Not again!" He cursed and walked into the apartment expecting it to have been ransacked like the last time he was broken into. Instead of the devastation he expected the place was just as he'd left it with the exception that there was a Jinx sitting on the sofa looking at him.

"Jinx, what are you doing here?" He asked surprised.

"I… came here to see you." Jinx said as if the words were hard to say, she looked down at her clothes and back up to him, "Sorry I didn't change. I just wanted to get here whilst everyone was too distracted thanking you."

"Are you okay? Did your team find out I helped you and kicked you out or did I not get all the triads or-" Kid Flash said his worried voice getting faster and faster.

"Whoa, slow down. I'm fine." Jinx said holding a hand up.

"Then… why are you here?" Kid Flash blinked surprised, he quickly realised how that sounded and corrected himself.

"I- AH! Not that I'm not pleased to see youIjustmeanthatyou'renotusuallythetypetocomeoverforacasualvisit!" He babbled.

"God, just shut up already before you stick your foot any further in your mouth." Jinx said rolling her eyes at him, Kid Flash reddened and sat down on the sofa next to her. Silence fell between the two.

"Oh, I see. You're actually shutting up." Jinx said realising why Kid Flash was being quiet, he nodded in response.

"You don't need to be a goddamn mime." She snorted rolling her eyes.

"I'm just… trying not to say anything dumb that'll make you mad at me." Kid Flash replied quietly staring at his feet.

"I can imagine that would be difficult." Jinx smirked, the room went quiet again and she looked away.

"I wanted to say… thank you. For the help I mean and… for not letting the others see you." Jinx said with a grimace, Kid Flash's eyes widened, he was sure that Jinx would be mad at him for ruining her reputation or something, not to mention the liberty he took with kissing her before he left.

"I said it was fine, and you thanked me then so you didn't need to come all the way over here to say that." Kid Flash said carefully.

"It's not just that, you really saved our asses and you had no reason to. I mean you're a hero, what does it matter to you if a bunch of villains take out another lot, if anything it means less work for you. But… you helped anyway." Jinx sighed leaning back on the sofa.

"Any hero would have." Kid Flash protested, Jinx shot him a look that told him otherwise.

"I'm supposed to protect everyone, not just civilians." He said honestly, Jinx looked at him for a while and then sighed again.

"You're a goddamn saint you know that right?" she said smirking at him.

"Isn't that a contradiction?" he grinned back at her.

"Shut up smartass." Jinx snorted smacking him on the arm.

"So you just came here to say thanks? That was remarkably gracious of you." Kid Flash noted with a warm smile, Jinx looked away and shifted uncomfortably.

"I didn't come just to say thanks, I came to apologise too, I shouldn't have said those things the other night, you were only trying to do what was right," Jinx said with a grimace at the word, "and it was… ignorant of me to say things like that about heroes and just throw you in with them. And I know that there are some really bad people out there who are bad for no reason and not just because they have to be, I mean, I don't know anything about you, for all I know you could have come from exactly the same circumstances as me and turned out just as good as you are now." She continued.

"But you did have a point though; I'd never even given a thought to why you ended up in the life you're in. I mean I just run into your life and tell you you're better than all this and ask you to change without a second thought. Or a first thought really." Kid Flash said embarrassed.

"Yeah well if I took everything you said first time personally I'd never stop strangling you. I told you that you talk too fast for your own good." Jinx snorted.

"So you ignore everything I say?" Kid Flash asked a little offended.

"Not everything, I believe you when you say you think I'm a good person." Jinx conceded with a tilt of her head, Kid Flash twisted sideways so his side rested against the back of the sofa and all of his legs were on the seat so he could look at Jinx straight on, she didn't seem to be lying about that. That was comforting; he'd hate to think she didn't believe that he thought that.

"Is that because I say it a lot? You're a good person by the way, just thought I'd remind you." He added as an afterthought.

"Pft, no. Although the repeating it does get the message through. You just get this big shiny eyed honest boy scout look about you when you say that." Jinx said with a laugh.

"Hmf. You wouldn't say that if you'd met any boy scouts." Kid Flash pouted.

"My god, were you a boy scout?" Jinx asked incredulously, having said that she could see it, Kid Flash in the silly green outfit with a sash stuffed full of merit badges, God the image was so sickly sweet hallmark it made her feel ill.

"For like… a week." Kid Flash grimaced.

"Surely you weren't kicked out, not with your squeaky clean reputation?" Jinx teased him.

"No, I couldn't hack it so I quit. They're really mean to new kids." Kid flash muttered looking at the floor.

"Jeeze, what'd they do to you?" Jinx asked interested.

"You ever heard of 'pegging someone out'?" Kid Flash asked looking up at Jinx.

"No, but it sounds like a dirty euphemism." Jinx grinned cheekily.

"Ick no. It's where about six or seven scouts grab the new guy, pin him down and using rope and tent pegs tie you down so you can't move and leave you out all night in the rain." Kid Flash said looking away.

"They managed to catch you to do that?" Jinx said disbelievingly.

"It was before I got my powers." Kid Flash shrugged.

"What'd you do?" Jinx asked wide eyed.

"I managed to get free after a few hours of struggling in the rain and walked home from the top of the mountain, took me about four hours in the dark. And I was still grounded by my uncle for being a quitter." Kid Flash said wrinkling his nose disdainfully at the memory.

"Poor baby." Jinx said teasingly, Kid Flash winced at this before he realised that Jinx almost had her arm around him in a half hug, he guessed it wasn't easy for her to comfort people. He smiled at this and shuffled closer to her and wriggled under her arm so it was properly around him.

"Where's my hug?" He asked accusingly.

"Wuss." Jinx muttered but gave him a comforting squeeze nonetheless. Kid Flash smiled contentedly and snuggled into Jinx's side and gave a small happy sigh, Jinx stayed still and silent not exactly breaking the hug but not continuing it either.

"Hey, want to finish that film?" Kid Flash asked softly.

"I probably shouldn't, I mean I'm not in disguise or anything, what if someone you knew found me here?" Jinx said uncomfortably.

"Please, the Titans are no where near the city and I don't let anyone else in the apartment except the Flash and he's off world and wouldn't have any reason to just drop in anyway." Kid Flash pleaded.

"I don't know…" Jinx said half heartedly.

"I'll cook for you." Kid Flash offered hopefully, Jinx's stomach answered before she could with a loud threatening growl.

"I… haven't really eaten anything much in days what with having absolutely no money." Jinx admitted going slightly pink on the cheeks.

"Awesome!" Kid Flash grinned taking this as a yes and running to the kitchen.

"What're you in the mood for?" Kid Flash asked opening the fridge door and peering inside.

"Something fast." Jinx shrugged looking at him, Kid Flash grinned at Jinx's unconscious remark.

"Now, should I take _that_ Freudian slip as a euphemism?" He asked with a big grin.

He only just managed to duck the three pillows and hexes.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Holy crap! I've no idea what on earth fanfiction did when it uploaded this but that wasn't how it looked on my computer!

Jinx sat on the kitchen counter top and watched Kid Flash cook, he'd replaced the lock to his front door first and gotten changed into his normal clothes but as it was Kid Flash it didn't take long. Jinx sniffed the air longingly.

"It smells good." She said wrapping her arms around him and hoping he'd ask her to try some and she'd get to eat something before she resorted to gnawing her own arm off from hunger.

"Cupboard love." He smirked knowingly at her.

"What?" Jinx asked confused.

"You only like me because I feed you, cupboard love." He explained.

"Who says I like you?" Jinx shot back teasingly, even so she could see the wounded little look on his face as he went back to watching the boiling ravioli pasta and its sauce.

"I like you, god, you're such a girl." Jinx said accusingly.

"I'm not a girl." Kid Flash pouted.

"You act like one, you're all sensitive and delicate." Jinx said swatting his arm.

"Jeez, sorry. Remind me to me more insensitive and masculine around you next time." Kid Flash muttered hurt.

"Hey, I like you." Jinx said catching his arm and giving him a meaningful look, it was as close as he was going to get to an apology. Kid Flash smiled at her as she slid off the counter top and let her hand run down his arm as she walked off into the living room the moment having clearly gotten too sentimental for her.

"You're such a guy." He laughed to himself.

"I HEARD that!" Jinx shouted from the sofa, Kid Flash smirked to himself and drained the pasta before dumping it into the pan with the sauce and mixing the two up.

"Here you go honey." Kid Flash said teasingly.

"You need a flowery apron on and a beehive hairdo before you can pull that off." Jinx shot back.

"Well I have just had my hair done, does that count?" Kid Flash said flicking his hair in mimic of the L'Oreal adverts. Jinx burst out laughing at this and Kid Flash grinned and sat down feeling that his mission was complete.

"Have you always been this weird or does it take time to cultivate?" Jinx asked stabbing some pasta on her plate with her fork trying not to unbalance it from her knees as she sat on the sofa.

"Oh, years of practice and winding Robin up." Kid Flash replied with a smirk.

"Winding Robin up? That doesn't sound all that challenging." Jinx snorted and ate a giant mouthful of pasta and felt her stomach love her for it, it wasn't just food it was GOOD food, damn Kid Flash could cook. She decided not to tell him this in case it made him too cocky about it.

"Ah, but it takes a master to do it well. Enjoying that are you?" He asked noticing that Jinx was eating far faster than him and had already demolished half of what was on her plate.

"Sorry." Jinx said turning the same colour as the sauce on her plate, in fact she did have some on her face. He leaned forward without even thinking and wiped it off, she looked startled at this and he realized that he may have just broken some rules on personal space, he showed her his sauce stained thumb in explanation and sat back and sucked it off his thumb before realizing that said action could have come over with far more sexual overtones than he'd intended. He looked up to see Jinx not looking scandalized but instead rubbing at her face with her sleeve, her face still coloured with a blush.

"So… where did you learn to cook anyway?" Jinx asked after she'd finished rubbing her face, Kid Flash considered telling her that she'd missed a spot but thought better of it.

"Aunt. I really miss her cooking sometimes." Kid Flash said wistfully.

"Why? Is she dead?" Jinx asked looking up, Kid Flash choked on the piece of pasta he was eating.

"What?! No! I just don't get to go home as often as I'd like." Kid Flash said croakily after he'd finished his extended coughing fit.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean… wow, that was kind of tactless of me wasn't it?" Jinx blinked surprised at herself.

"A bit yeah, that's usually my area." Kid Flash said weakly.

"Sorry. For what it's worth I'm glad your family aren't dead." Jinx said going back to her food. Kid Flash stared at Jinx, he wondered if it was usual for her to meet people who had no family at all and such conversation was normal, he remembered her file had stated that she went to the HIVE academy with other teenage villains so he supposed everyone there would have a pretty tragic past in one way or another. Maybe those kind of questions were normal there. Or maybe Jinx was just messing with him, it was kind of hard to tell. He looked down at his plate, Jinx deserved better than that but he knew better than to pester her to go good, she was only just acting comfortable around him and he didn't want to ruin that, he didn't want to make her go back to somewhere that she considered normal, namely the HIVE five base, and run away from him. But he wanted so desperately to help her, to help her make her life better, to help her get what she deserved in life. But how could he do that? He didn't want to chase her too much and have her back off but it was so excruciating.

"OW!" Kid Flash yelped suddenly as Jinx's foot connected painfully with his shin.

"Good, I've got your attention now." Jinx said unimpressed.

"What was that for?" Kid Flash whined rubbing his shin.

"You went all spaced out and started ignoring me." Jinx said flatly.

"Sorry, I was just… never mind." Kid Flash said quickly, Jinx narrowed her eyes, he'd said that FAR too quickly. Even for him.

"Tell me." Jinx said folding her arms and looking firmly at Kid Flash, there was no way he could escape that look.

"It was nothing." He said dismissively as he looked off to the side.

"I'll leave if you don't tell me." Jinx said with a glare,

"And I'll take both of our meals." Jinx added as an afterthought.

"Don't leave!" Kid Flash said desperate, this is exactly what he hadn't wanted, he was chasing her away!

"So spill." Jinx demanded.

"I just… I'm really worried that I'm going to end up scaring you off or that I'll say the wrong thing or push what I want for you too hard on you." Kid Flash sighed knowing that this conversation was definitely not going to be easy.

"What you want for me?" Jinx asked with an edge to her voice that Wally was very much aware of.

"I want you to be happy. I want to you be with people who respect you, I want you to be able to be free to be as smart as you are. And you and I both know that the HIVE five does not fit that profile." Kid Flash said with a snort. "Well sure, I want that too. May I remind you that I was trying to use you as a bargaining chip to push me up the career ladder before you escaped." Jinx pointed out. Kid Flash screwed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples as if he had a huge headache building.

"What? Was that it? I don't scare that easily you know." Jinx said raising what should have been an eyebrow.

"No, it's not that. It's just the rest of this is going to be exactly what I didn't want to say because it's going to drive you away and even if I hadn't said this you would have known I wasn't telling you the whole thing and this whole conversation was doomed from the start." He groaned.

"Tell me." Jinx ordered. Kid Flash sighed and took his plate from off his knees and put it gently down on the small coffee table in front of them.

"I don't want you to be in the HIVE five. They're a bunch of no good morons and you deserve better. I know you're not evil, you've got a heart and some sense of morals, I know that much, it's one of the few things that's made me fight all the training I've had and not turning you over to the police. Although I will admit that the other reason is my own self interest in that I like you and don't want to see you locked up where I can't be around you." Wally admitted quietly.

"Is that why you didn't arrest me when you took the others away on the first day I met you?" Jinx asked suspiciously.

"Actually that was just a hunch then, I just had a feeling you were different and I wanted to know why I thought that. I'm pleased to know that I wasn't wrong." Kid Flash smiled weakly.

"Go on then." Jinx said levelly.

"I don't want you to be a villain. I want you to be a hero, I know you have it in you and I know you'd be great. I'm not saying you should be some squeaky clean do gooder like Superman or something, but I know you can help people. And you'd have such a tactical advantage of having seen both sides. And I want it because I think you'd be good at it and you'd be happier that way, you wouldn't have to run from the police or hide, you could have something approaching normality but still be able to go out and kick butt. I think you deserve better." He said in what seemed like one long continuous breath.

"And you think better is you? You and your life?" Jinx said icily.

"…yes." Kid Flash breathed leaning forward on his knees, he'd have liked to soften how harsh and selfish that last statement has sounded but it was the truth and Jinx deserved that much from him at least.

"My god! How arrogant are you?! You just assume that the way you lead your life is so much better than the way I lead mine and you're so goddamn righteous that you think you can tell me I'm wrong and to change my entire life because you say so!" Jinx shouted, her patience finally snapping.

"I'm not saying this because I think I have the right to tell you what to do, I'm just begging you to let me help you make the right choice." He replied earnestly, Jinx's eyes were starting to become slightly luminescent now and he knew all too well that glowing eyes meant bad news.

"And how do you know that villainy isn't the right choice for me?! Just because being a spandex wearing do gooder is the right fit for you what makes you think that I'd be for me?" Jinx demanded waving an accusing finger in his face.

"Well, if you were so happy in your chosen profession you wouldn't be avoiding your team mates and spending time with a hero, you wouldn't be talking to be, you wouldn't be writing to me you wouldn't only be stealing when you need to, you wouldn't be avoiding them to see me and you most of all wouldn't be so miserable and dissatisfied all the time if you were doing what was right for you." He said looking her square in the eyes, Jinx looked both angry and uncomfortable at this.

"And you just know me so well do you?" Jinx snarled at him.

"Yeah, I'd like to think I know that much at least, but anyone with half a brain could see you're not happy. I'd like to keep getting to know you but what little I know of you makes me think that all you're going to do now is tell me you hate me or something and storm out of here saying that you're never going to talk to me again. And I will point out that I said that this was going to happen and I didn't want to say any of this but you made me." He said defeatedly as he flopped down on the sofa and prepared to hear Jinx storming out.

"Are you trying to reverse psychology me? Tell me that I'm going to leave so I'll not leave to spite you?" Jinx asked with uncertain suspicion ringing in her voice.

"No, because if I tricked you into the answer I want it wouldn't be good enough for me." He said wearily closing his eyes.

"So you're what? Just demanding that I give up everything I know because you asked me to? When I know full well that you wouldn't do the same for me?" Jinx said accusatorially.

"If I felt about my friends and being a hero how you feel about the HIVE five then I would do the same if you tried to give me a choice that you wholeheartedly believe would be better for me. But I don't feel that way, so no." Kid Flash replied over a moment's thought.

"You can't just demand I make some life changing decision this quickly." Jinx said weakly, Kid Flash felt her sit shakily back down on the sofa. He opened his eyes and looked at her, she looked… very un-Jinx-like, she seemed uncertain and disturbed and overall very uncomfortable.

"I can wait." He smiled at her.

"You don't seem like the waiting type, you have all the patience of a two year old." Jinx said rolling her eyes and feeling a little more like herself.

"For you Jinx, I'd wait my whole life." Kid Flash said honestly, Jinx stepped backwards, looking skittish.

"I need to-" Jinx breathed quickly.

"-run. I know. Sometimes you just have to run, believe me. I know." He smiled understandingly at her. He knew Jinx would run but he didn't expect there to be a possibility that it would just be to get some space before deciding on maybe coming back for good. Jinx stepped backwards and made a bolt for the door hoping Kid Flash would understand that she just could deal with this with him there looking at her like that, she just needed to get the hell out of there and right now nothing could stop her. Oh, apart from the hand on the door holding it shut.

"No need for you to miss dinner too though." A voice full of smiled said to her side, she looked sideways to see Kid Flash holding what appeared to be both their meals crammed into a Tupperware box. Jinx snatched it and ran out the door as if her life depended on it. Kid Flash closed the door with the broken lock behind her and breathed a sigh, that hadn't gone as bad as he had thought it would, he'd have rather not said anything at all and just spent an evening with Jinx's company and some not so subtle flirting on his part but he supposed it was going to come out at some point and the second Jinx had caught wind of the fact that he was keeping something from her he knew that the whole thing was inevitable. He walked over to the window and watched as Jinx sprinted across four lanes of traffic to much angry horn honking from the drivers in her attempt to get as far away from him and the whole situation as possible. He sighed again and tried not to be hurt, he knew that he had a tendency to bail when things got too much and he knew that he would probably have done the same had the situations been reversed. He could only hope that she'd think about what he'd said and that he'd see her again.


	7. Chapter 7

Kid Flash sat sullenly by the water's edge, Jinx was most definitely not talking to him, he'd written countless entries in their diary that weren't at all to do with was she going to make her mind up and decide which side she was on. He glared at the waves, maybe he was moving too fast for her, not that that'd be unusual for him he was just so impatient with the whole thing, it just seemed like a no brainer. He and Jinx meet, he gives her a chance, treats her like a human being, they become closer, she realises how rubbish being a villain is, she switches sides and they live happily ever after. What was the big problem here? Maybe he'd come on to her too strong, he wanted her to be good but she was also very beautiful and his teenage hormones had less pure intentions. Jinx was no doubt aware that he was attracted to her, he hoped that wouldn't change her decision and make her stay with her life of crime because she thought he was only interested in dating a 'bad girl'. Although that seemed a little silly too, if that was what he wanted why would he try and make her good?

Kid Flash groaned and rubbed his forehead, girls were confusing.

"Hey. Stop thinking so hard, you'll strain something." A smirking voice said from behind him, he jumped and turned around to see Jinx standing over him.

"Hey." He replied back all but melting at the smile she gave him. Jinx sat down next to him and stared at the sea silently.

"So… how… uh, are you?" He asked desperately trying to grasp for a topic that had nothing to do with what they'd talked about last time, he didn't want her to think he was forcing her into a decision, because he knew that'd only push her further away.

"I'm fine. I don't bite you know, well, not often." Jinx grinned at him showing a considerable amount of teeth, sharp teeth actually, those canines could probably leave some serious marks on him. The hormonal part of his brain deeply liked THAT idea.

"Good." He squeaked in an embarrassingly high octave.

"Smooth." Jinx snorted.

"Thanks." He replied coughing to get his voice back into the range of human hearing and not that of dogs.

"You're pretty persistent you know. I didn't think you'd keep coming back to see if I'd written anything after we installed the electric fence and anti-climb paint on the side of the building." Jinx said sounding impressed.

"You could have put a sign up or something, I still smell all singed." He muttered unhappily, Jinx laughed at this before falling into an awkward silence.

"Why are you so interested in me anyway?" Jinx asked seriously.

"Because." Kid Flash replied simply.

"That's not an answer." Jinx shot back.

"Sure it is, I'm interested in you because I am, I know I am just the same way I know the sun is going to rise every morning." He said exasperatedly, why was 'I just DO' never enough of an answer for Jinx?

"You're interested in me because you know the earth rotates?" Jinx said with the beginnings of a smirk playing on her lips.

"That's not what I meant, smartass." Kid Flash said rolling his eyes.

"Look, despite how much I'll regret saying this, you mean a lot to me… so… just take a warning. I'm bad news, all I do is destroy things, I break everything given enough time so just stay away okay? I'm bad for you, and for everyone else too." Jinx said glaring at the sand at her feet as if it were the source of all her problems.

"You know, I might be a little rusty on my world religions but in Hinduism there's a god called Shiva. Well, there's three gods, the creator, the maintainer and the destroyer. Shiva's the one who will ultimately destroy everything, sound familiar?" Kid flash said shooting a look at Jinx.

"I'm not going to destroy everything. What's your point?" Jinx said darkly.

"Well, you might think that Shiva would be the equivalent of the devil, something that just destroys things. You sort of think that anyone in their right mind would hate someone like that." Kid Flash continued.

"You'd better start changing your tune fast or you'll get some godly wrath of your own." Jinx hissed her eyes glowing dangerously.

"Hey hey, wait! The thing is people don't hate Shiva at all, heck there are whole scores of people who just worship him and ignore the other gods! People like Shiva, he represents the end of things, all things. How many times have you just wished that something could be over or that something bad would go away? Shiva brings and end to pain and suffering, and okay yeah, not always a good thing to have stuff destroyed but they know that without destruction there can be nothing else, no life, no happiness, no nothing." Kid Flash said holding his hands up defensively, Jinx looked away sadly.

"I'm not some god though, I can't end suffering and all that good stuff, all I do is blow stuff up." Jinx replied sulkily.

"Sure you can, it's just about what you blow up and who you do it to that changes mindless destruction to a heroic act." He smiled warmly at her.

"So basically what you're saying is that you're just attracted to power." Jinx smirked at him.

"Oh yeah, I'm shallow like that." Kid Flash snorted with laughter as he flopped back onto the sand.

"I knew it, you're so shallow I could stand in a puddle of you and not get my feet wet." Jinx chuckled leaning back on her elbows.

"Ouch, that hurt." Kid Flash pouted holding a hand over his heart. Jinx said nothing but sighed and stared out at the water, she pulled her knees close to her and rested her chin on them.

"There's a difference between me and that god you know. A god knows what they're doing, has a plan and all that… I'm just… chaos and destruction. I'm not some sought after end to something, I'm just bad. And no one likes bad." Jinx murmured after a while.

"I like bad." Kid Flash replied softly.

"Very funny." Jinx shot back and glared a little at the ocean.

"I mean it, I think you've got a great power. You can protect yourself and other people too, that and long range is always a bonus, I'm useless if I'm stuck." Kid Flash said wrinkling his nose and remembering several fights where a villain had stuck him to something or in something and just been inches out of his grasp and there was nothing he could do.

"I already knew I was strong, I'm not good though." Jinx said rolling her eyes.

"You mean… morally?" Kid Flash asked carefully.

"And then some." Jinx sighed.

"Hey, you're good. You've got a moral compass, you've got… principles and… stuff." Kid Flash gestured vaguely.

"Wow, principals and stuff huh? How can I turn down a recommendation like that?" Jinx snorted kicking at the sand with her foot.

"I didn't mean it like that, I think you're great." Kid Flash said sitting up and desperately trying to undo his mistake.

"Ah, that's the question though isn't. Why do you think I'm great? Because I'm not convinced it's for entirely moral reasons." Jinx said scrutinising him.

"I don't know what you mean." He mumbled feeling his face flush. Jinx narrowed her eyes at him and he shifted uncomfortably and looked away, which was precisely why he was so caught off guard when Jinx threw herself at him. She had one hand tangled in his hair and the other pinning his left wrist into the sand, the instinctual gasp of surprise let her into his mouth and from that point on the hormonal part of his brain banished the clear headed reasonable thoughts along the lines of 'I really shouldn't be doing this' and 'this is a public place, what if someone sees us?' to the corner of his brain and took over. He ran one hand along her side and stroked her jaw with the other. By the time Jinx pulled away from him they were both out of breath, he stared up at her through a hormonal haze and already knew that his face was flushed.

"That'd be why you're so interested in me then." Jinx breathed looking down at him with narrowed eyes. Kid Flash felt like someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over him, Jinx thought that the only reason he cared about her was because of that!

"No! That's not it!" He said shaking his head and trying to sit up but Jinx's hand on his wrist pinning him to the floor stayed firm.

"It's okay, everyone has their own motivations, I'm old enough to know that by now. You just helped me decide." Jinx said standing up and brushing the sand off of her.

"What?! No! Jinx! That's not how it is!" Kid Flash yelped jumping up now that his wrist was free.

"Chill, I didn't say you're some horrible person or anything, you're just human, like everyone else. Everyone's got selfish reasons for doing things. You're just like everyone else." Jinx said turning her back on him, but Kid Flash felt the sting of the double meaning of her last words.

"I'm not, I'm not like everyone else Jinx. I really do want you to be good for your own sake not because of this." Kid Flash pleaded grabbing her elbow.

"Prove it." Jinx said shaking him off and climbing over the rocky outcrop that separated the street from the beach.

"I can't! I can't okay?!" Kid Flash called after her. Jinx froze and looked at him standing on the beach looking up desperately at her.

"I know I can't make you believe that this isn't why I want you to change, I know I can't prove it. But I can't help that, I know this would have been simpler if I didn't feel like this about you but I'm a boy, I'm pretty stupid sometimes, it's sort of a feature of my gender." Kid Flash sighed noting the slight upward quirk of Jinx's lips at his last comment.

"But I like you because you're smart and you're strong and… and beautiful and independent and… and… you're perfect and-" Kid Flash insisted feeling his face get hotter by the second.

"You're babbling." Jinx frowned cutting him off.

"All those things I like about you are the same things that convince me that you deserve better than what you have right now, I'd say that regardless of what you feel about me. Or, what I think you feel about me or- I mean I… I-" Kid Flash stammered staring at his feet.

"Yeah, stop talking now." Jinx said rolling her eyes at the boy.

"'kay." Kid Flash mumbled still finding his shoes very interesting.

"So you mean to tell me that you'd still be trying to 'rescue' me from all of this even if I hated you?" Jinx asked fully turning around and folding her arms at him.

"To be honest sometimes I'm not so sure you don't hate me." Kid Flash grimaced looking off to the side.

"I don't hate you." Jinx said quietly, Kid Flash's head snapped back to look at her and was surprised to see a slight blush dusting her cheeks.

"Really?" He smiled happily.

"Yeah," Jinx said shifting uncomfortably, Kid Flash recognised that look, Jinx was about to bolt. "I gotta…"

"Go. I know." He smiled at her. Jinx nodded quickly and quickly disappeared, Kid Flash smiled broadly and sat down again looking out at the ocean more happily this time.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: there's a few song lyrics in this chapter (not that it's a songfic now) but I've tried to keep them to a minimum, feel free to look up the lyrics and listen to the songs yourself, they're both good. And of course I don't own or claim any rights to either of these songs!

6th May

Share your favourite song with a friend

_Kid Flash_

_Kid_

_I can't do it th_

_Okay I'll do it-_

Jinx growled under her breath and scribbled out everything she'd written. She still couldn't make up her mind about what Kid Flash had said to her, the boy genuinely seemed to be honest when he said that he only wanted what was best for her, and he certainly did think that heroing was what was best for her. That wasn't to say that he was right though. How well did he even know her to make that kind of decision? And more to the point how little did she really know herself if she couldn't outright say that he was wrong? And what about the kiss they'd had? Did that change anything? Were Kid Flash's motives really selfish or was he right when he said that the two things were unrelated? Jinx's fingers brushed her lips as the memory of the kiss came back to her, the boy wasn't half bad at it. She sighed and rocked back on her chair balancing it on two legs and stared up at the ceiling, the ensuing gust of wind that ripped through the room all but knocked her off of her chair.

"Ack! Sorry! I thought I saw you downstairs!" Kid Flash yelped seeing her.

"Gizmo's been testing out a robot duplicate of me. I dread to think why." Jinx muttered pulling her chair safely back on all four legs and leant forward against her recently re-acquired desk, she'd been thankful that she'd been able to get it back from the pawn shop, she'd always been rather attached to it. Jinx looked over at Kid Flash who looked incredibly like a deer caught in the headlights and groaned, she leant forward and rested her forehead on the desk. Why was everything so damned complicated?

"Do… you want me to go?" Kid Flash asked nervously. He'd intended on giving Jinx some space after their talk and especially after the incident on the beach so she could calm down but here he was invading her privacy again. Jinx silently shook her head, Kid Flash awkwardly sat down on her bed and waited in silence.

"You're asking a lot you know." Jinx murmured from her desk.

"I know." Kid Flash replied quietly.

"Things were so much simpler before you came along you know." Jinx said sitting up and looking at him accusingly.

"Were they better though?" Kid Flash replied quickly. Jinx frowned and looked away.

"I wish I knew. I've no idea what I think any more. And I've always known what I think before this, I've never been unsure of myself." Jinx grumbled.

"That must be nice." Kid Flash sighed softly.

"What?" Jinx blinked looking at him confused.

"Not you being confused now I don't mean!" Kid Flash said quickly, "I meant about before, having that sense of certainty. I'm always second guessing myself, I guess it comes from having too much time to think about things, I over think things all the time."

"That doesn't sound like you, so confident, you always seem so sure of yourself." Jinx said surprised.

"Thanks, it takes a lot of work to perfect that. Although you've helped, you're one of the only things that I'm 100% sure about and that's unusual for me." Kid Flash smiled warmly at her. Jinx fell silent and looked down at the open diary again, out of the corner of her eye she could see Kid Flash craning his neck to try and see if she'd written anything.

"Stop it or you'll sprain something. Have you seen today's suggestion?" Jinx said rolling her eyes at him, Kid Flash shook his head mutely.

"We're supposed to share a song with a friend, I figured I'd give you one that reminded me of you." Jinx said with a slight grin playing about her lips.

"About me?" Kid Flash blinked surprised.

"Yeah. But you don't get it until you do the same." Jinx grinned toothily at him.

"Hm, I'd better go rifle through my CD collection then hadn't I?" Kid Flash grinned back at her.

"Yeah, now go. I've still got stuff to think about." Jinx sighed realising that she was going to have to get back to the crushing weight of reality, she was always slightly saddened to when she left Kid Flash because he made everything so light and easy to think about, the whole world seemed in the palm of her hand when he was about, but as soon as he wasn't she felt like the world was about to obliterate her.

"Okay, I can take a hint." Kid Flash laughed standing up and stretching.

"That's a first." Jinx said teasingly. Kid Flash rolled his eyes, he suspected that no matter how much time he spent with Jinx, even if she became a hero and even if as his heart desperately hoped, they got together, she'd never ever stop teasing him at every opportunity. He felt strangely comforted by that thought.

"Bye." He waved before disappearing in a room rearranging blur.

"I need to give him a key or install some kind if Kid Flash flap in my wall." Jinx grumbled picking up all the paper and books that were now on the floor thanks to the giant mass of displaced air that was Kid Flash.

Kid Flash sat in front of his computer grinning, he finally took his headphones off and stretched as he set the CD to burn. He'd considered so many songs, quite a few musicals too, but he figured that after the teasing Jinx had given him after he admitted being a musical fan that she wasn't much into that sort of stuff, so those were out. He'd considered several romantic songs but they probably weren't a good idea considering as he wanted her to realise that he had more than just a basic romantic interest in her. He wanted something that not just described Jinx, but what he thought of her, after all Jinx knew what she was like, what she didn't know is what he thought of her.

The CD drive interrupted his thoughts by spitting out his CD, he smiled to himself and put it in a case and debated whether he should run over to see her right now or wait some more. Kid Flash debated for half a second before dashing off to the HIVE five base. After a preliminary check through the base and noting that the Jinx robot looked disturbingly like her (except for the open chest panel showing fizzing circuitry) he ran up to her room only to find it empty. He stood in the middle of her dark purple room and scratched his head. Her bathroom was open and empty, she certainly wasn't in the rest of the base so where could she be?

He glanced down at the diary on her desk and noticed a CD case on it, his curiosity piqued, he sat down and examined it.

"Wicked." He read out loud looking at the picture of two women on the cover, the connection clicked in his mind and he remembered a musical with the same name. He popped open the CD case to find it devoid of CD but instead there was a folded up piece of paper inside it.

_Kid Flash,_

_The song I chose was 'For good', I was originally going to just play it to you but I've seen this musical before and it's just not the same on CD. Which is why if you're reading this I'm at the Jump City theatre right now in a really good disguise with two tickets to the show. I hope you've not seen it before. Meet me there before 8. Although, fair warning, stand me up or be late and I WILL KILL YOU. I know where you live remember!_

_Jinx_

Kid Flash paled and checked his watch, it was… two minutes to 8. He leapt up and ran quickly to his home, not once dropping out of high speed to grab his clothes and completely trashing the place in the process, he staggered into an alleyway outside of the theatre and changed in a split second and after a moment of indecision crammed his costume behind a dumpster vowing to wash it thoroughly after the show. He ran around the corner and inside the waiting area of the theatre and groaned. Pretty much everyone was in costume and brightly coloured hair was apparently the thing to be wearing, he checked his watch, how on earth was he going to find Jinx in this place in the next thirty seconds without using his powers?

"Wow, you cut that pretty close." A voice behind him said. He spun quickly to see a girl that he wouldn't have recognised as Jinx for quite some time looking at him with a slight smirk on her face.

"You had ten seconds until horrible painful death by my watch." Jinx informed him quirking a drawn on eyebrow.

"Thirty by mine." He panted relieved.

"Mmm, either way I was beginning to think you'd stood me up." Jinx said tilting her head at him.

"I would never! Not on purpose anyway." Kid Flash added remembering that he very nearly decided not to come see Jinx straight away.

"Neither would I." Jinx murmured taking his arm and leading him up the stairs to the entrance to their seats, the queue was moving quite fast now as some people had already started going in. They went up the stairs and into the theatre area proper in silence, Kid Flash gasped in delighted surprise at the mechanical dragon suspended above the stage and vaguely wondered if the actors got nervous that it would fall on them. Jinx pulled him over to their seats and sat down.

"Wow… this is… You really didn't have to do this, I could have just listened to the CD." Kid Flash said looking around and feeling somewhat humbled by the amount of money that Jinx must have spent to get these tickets, especially since she'd only so recently been in money troubles.

"It's no problem, as I said you don't really get the same feel from the CD." Jinx shrugged poking at the vendable binoculars attached to the seat in front of her.

"Mine doesn't really compare now with this." He muttered looking down at the CD in his hand.

"Sure it does, let me listen." Jinx smiled at him as she pulled a portable CD player out of her bag.

"Very retro." Kid Flash grinned at her.

"Shut up, I figured you'd bring a CD and I didn't wanna wait." Jinx said shaking her head and plucking the CD from Kid Flash's fingers and placing it delicately in the CD player. She jabbed the play button and put the earphones in her ears and listened.

Jinx quirked a smile, this sounded like oldschool rock music, she approved. She tilted her head slightly, she couldn't quite pick out the artist just yet, suddenly the singer burst into life.

"I'm travelin' down the road,  
And I'm flirtin' with disaster.  
I've got the pedal to the floor,  
And my life is running faster.  
I'm out of money, I'm out of hope,  
It looks like self destruction.  
Well how much more can we take,  
With all of this corruption?"

"I take it I'm 'disaster' in this song?" Jinx asked raising an eyebrow at the boy, Kid Flash reddened a little and looked away.

"Been flirtin' with disaster,  
Y'all know what I mean.  
And the way we run our lives,  
It makes no sense to me.  
I don't know about yourself or,  
What you want to be - yeah.  
When we gamble with our time,  
We choose our destiny.

I'm travelin' down that lonesome road.  
Feel like I'm dragging a heavy load.  
Yeah! I've tried to turn my head away,  
Feels about the same most every day.  
Speeding down the fast lane,  
Playin' from town to town.  
The boys and I have been burnin' it up,  
Can't seem to slow it down.  
I've got the pedal to the floor,  
Our lives are runnin' faster,  
Got our sights set straight ahead,  
But ain't sure what we're after."

Jinx smiled as the song repeated the chorus and fairly similar verses and turned to Kid Flash.

"So… you pick a song… it's old rock, which I like. But you've sort of said that what I choose to be is my choice… and that you're infatuated with me." Jinx grinned at him.

"I wouldn't say it like that." Kid Flash said wide eyed, that made him sound as if he was obsessed.

"And how _would _you say it?" Jinx said teasingly. The word 'love' flashed through Kid Flash's mind and he bit his tongue.

"Nevermind," he mumbled, "Are you sure it's okay you using your money to buy these tickets?" he asked changing the subject

"Of course I am, trust me, you won't regret seeing this and plus, you like musicals don't you?" Jinx asked looking over sideways at him.

"Well yeah, of course I like musicals." Kid Flash smiled at her.

"Oh you're so lucky!" A middle aged woman exclaims as she walks by the aisle that Kid Flash and Jinx are sitting in.

"I wish I had gay friends to go to see musicals with, but sadly I don't. You're very lucky." The woman sighed wistfully, Kid Flash practically choked on his own tongue.

"Thank you." Jinx replied barely holding back a laugh.

"I'm not! I- HEY!" Kid Flash protested to the back of the retreating woman as Jinx finally dissolved into laughter.

"Hey, forget it. Look, it's starting." Jinx giggled rubbing Kid Flash's shoulder as the lights around them began to dim. He pouted and leant back in his chair, he watched Jinx lean forward out of the corner of his eye and zap the dispensable binocular holder, flatly ignoring the money slot next to it that would have released them.

"Here, you'll see it better." Jinx said offering them to him.

"I'm going to pretend you paid for those." Kid Flash said rolling his eyes with a smile. The lights dimmed even further and the dragon above the stage began to move and roar, Kid Flash grinned, this was impressive.

As Kid Flash watched the musical he half regretted never having gone to see it before, he'd thought it was somewhat of a girly musical but he was happily surprised. He laughed happily at the antics of Elphaba, a green skinned witch who was treated as an outcast regardless of her intentions, he didn't have to look hard to see a lot of Jinx in her, he even saw a lot of himself in the attractive male lead, he suspected that Jinx wouldn't see that in him. He seemed shallow despite having hidden depths and a lot of people he knew thought of him that way, instead of shallowness he mostly used humor and laughed things off that hurt him, acted dumb, acted shallow. Although he'd never felt the need to behave that way all that much around Jinx, he still used jokes to defend himself but he felt a lot… freer around her. He thought silently to himself, he supposed it was because she was already different, she was already an outcast and it was so much easier to admit to someone who knew what different was like that he wasn't who everyone thought he was. He felt a small smile tug at his lips as the attraction between his character and Elphaba grew and wondered if Jinx noticed the similarity to their own situation.

"Hey, it's this next song that I wanted you to hear." Jinx whispered softly into his ear as her hand tugged at his sleeve for attention.

"Well now I'm really interested." Kid Flash smiled excitedly. Onto the stage came Glinda, the other female lead, she was the one who acted perfect all the time, the one who in the wizard of oz was the 'good' witch. She was hardly all people believed her to be but she and Elphaba seemed to have had a genuine bond but as the story progressed they had started fighting viciously. His eyes widened, how could this be a good song? He'd already heard one song of them professing how much they hated each other at the beginning, surely this song would just be another argument?

"I'm limited  
Just look at me - I'm limited  
And just look at you  
You can do all I couldn't do, Glinda  
So now it's up to you  
For both of us - now it's up to you..." Elphaba sang taking Glinda's hands. Kid Flash frowned, this was exactly why he saw Jinx in her, despite her own best intentions her appearance and the bad luck that surrounded her stopped her from doing what she was meant to do, wheras Glinda had everything fall in her lap. Glinda smiled and began to sing her reply.

"I've heard it said  
That people come into our lives for a reason  
Bringing something we must learn  
And we are led  
To those who help us most to grow  
If we let them  
And we help them in return  
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true  
But I know I'm who I am today  
Because I knew you..." Glinda sang soulfully. Kid Flash's eyes widened, this wasn't an argument after all, she was grateful to her for her help, both girls had affected the other so much just as he'd affected Jinx.

"Like a comet pulled from orbit  
As it passes a sun  
Like a stream that meets a boulder  
Halfway through the wood  
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?  
But because I knew you  
I have been changed for good." Glinda continued. Kid Flash let out a breath he didn't realise that he'd been holding as the realisation sank in. This was Jinx's way of… thanking him, she saw him as Glinda and herself as Elphaba. He was the one who had everything when she had nothing, she was the one who'd come to need someone and he was the one who'd come to realise that the world of heroes that he knew wasn't the whole story at all. Elpheba began to sing in response,

"It well may be  
That we will never meet again  
In this lifetime  
So let me say before we part  
So much of me  
Is made of what I learned from you  
You'll be with me  
Like a handprint on my heart  
And now whatever way our stories end  
I know you have re-written mine  
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring  
By a wind off the sea  
Like a seed dropped by a skybird  
In a distant wood  
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?  
But because I knew you

I have been changed for good" She sang with a smile. He glanced over at Jinx and could swear that he saw her eyes tearing up. He sat breathlessly as the beauty of the song washed over him and contemplated the meaning of it, both girls professed to have changed for good.

Good.

The word stuck in Kid Flash's head.

Was this Jinx's way of telling him of her choice? He shook his head, he doubt she'd have said so this way, but… maybe she was saying that whatever her choice he'd made her a better person. He didn't doubt that, he'd watched her learn to relax, to realise that she was better than the person that people thought she was. He smiled and felt a sense of warmth fill him, even if Jinx didn't choose heroism he could… live with it. Even if she just became a civillian he couldn't care less, he knew that his mentor and the other titans would practically kill him for it but suddenly… it didn't seem so important. Making her choose good wasn't the ultimate goal now, he knew where she was now was wrong but Jinx was right, he couldn't assume that his way was the best and even if it was, perhaps it wasn't the best for her. Suddenly the idea of Jinx in spandex jumping from rooftop to rooftop on patrol with him seemed a little silly, as much as he'd love to always have her by his side fighting beside him she wouldn't be willing to be there to do every little thing for everyone all the time. He could imagine her snorting at the idea and pointing out that it's people doing that kind of thing that left the police with so much free time to bother people like her, he smiled and squeezed her hand, though he had no doubt that she'd help him if he REALLY needed her she was never going to be like the rest of the titans and he found himself… strangely glad at that.

Jinx frowned slightly as she left the theatre, she always enjoyed seeing that musical but the previously animated Kid Flash had been stone silent since the song she'd intended on him hearing. She mentally cursed herself, he probably took it badly or… hated it or something.

"Hey, what's up?" Kid Flash asked speaking for the first time in ages. Jinx tensed as his hand brushed her back.

"I'm sorry, I guess I misjudged your taste, I thought…" Jinx trailed off unsure of where to go.

"What? No! I liked it, best thing I've seen in a long while. I've just been thinking about your song is all." Kid Flash smiled realising that he'd not spoken since it'd been on.

"And?" Jinx asked not daring to look around.

"And I think you picked the perfect song, and I think I need to apologise for something." He said with a sigh.

"What do you have to apologise for?" Jinx asked looking at him surprised.

"I… I've been pretty selfish and stupid. You were right when you said that I just think of what I do as better than any other option and… well, just because what I do is what I'm meant to do doesn't mean that it's what's best for you. I mean, I know you're a good person but that doesn't mean you have to be like me and I'm sorry for making you feel like it's just your way or my way and there's nothing else." Kid Flash mumbled looking at his shoes.

"And if I did want to do what you do?" Jinx asked distantly, Kid Flash's head snapped up and he stared at her wide eyed.

"You… You want to be a hero? I thought you'd not even decided whether you were going to leave your side let alone join mine." He blurted surprised.

"I don't know what I want, I know I don't like what I do now… but equally I really can't stand most of your lot either. I don't know, most people annoy me. The police are awful and your average civilian is about as tolerant of metahumans as they are of rats, it's only those of you that run around saving people that they say anything nice about." Jinx sighed running a hand through her hair.

"That doesn't mean you have to be one of us." Kid Flash insisted earnestly.

"What choice do I have? I'm sick of being hated, I want people to respect me yeah, and it's easier to get that by being bad but you're right, I don't need to hurt other people to feel good about myself. But then I doubt even if I converted I'd stop people hating me, I'd bet that your lot would hate me." Jinx laughed hollowly.

"Hey, don't say that…" He said softly.

"Oh come on Kid, what would your friends say if they knew about us, about you not arresting me, about you letting me into your place, about the kiss? I highly doubt they'd be happy about it, they'd probably be even angrier than my side, at least on my side of the fence treachery is somewhat expected, hell, I took classes on it for goodness sake. But what would your fellow heroes do to you if they found out?" Jinx asked frowning at Kid Flash, he shifted uncomfortably at this.

"My mentor would probably throttle me, I could be kicked out of the Titans, expelled from the Justice Leauge… the list goes on." He sighed rubbing his temples in an attempt to ease the stressful tension building there.

"Why would you risk all of that for me? Look, I'll… I'll make up my own mind and my own way, I'm not going to drag you down with me. Bye Kid…" Jinx said quietly turning her back on Kid Flash and walking away. She got about three steps before the strong warm arms around her waist stopped her.

"I don't mind, you're worth it. Plus, if doing what was right was always easy then just anyone could do my job couldn't they?" He smiled against the soft skin of Jinx's neck.

"But you're risking so much." Jinx breathed her hands falling on Kid Flash's.

"So are you and as you said, if I'm not prepared to make the same risks that you are then how can I even come close to being able to tell you what I think you should do?" He said squeezing her and letting her go.

"I still haven't made up my mind you know." Jinx said hugging herself in an insecure manner.

"Well I have, and I'll be waiting right here until you do decide." Kid Flash smiled stroking the side of Jinx's face softly.

"What? Right here outside the theatre?" Jinx smirked at him.

"One of these days you will stop teasing me at every opportunity." Kid Flash laughed shaking his head and walking along with Jinx in the direction of the HIVE five base.

"Dream on speedo." Jinx snorted shoving him.

"What?! Speedo?! Since when am I disturbingly revealing swimwear?" Kid Flash cried in disbeleif.

"Since you decided it was a good idea to coat yourself head to toe in spandex." Jinx grinned at him.

"Hey, you know you love the spandex really." He smirked suggestively at her.

"Well, you do have a nice ass." Jinx mused with her catlike grin on her face.

"I try." Kid Flash laughed wrapping an arm around her as they walked down the street together talking and laughing between themselves. The red head couldn't help but smile to himself the whole way home after he dropped Jinx off at the edge of the rough part of town knowing full well that she had little to fear from those who lived there, not even prising his costume out from behind the back of an apparently leaky dumpster could dampen his mood. He let himself into his flat still grinning like madman and kicked the door closed behind him, he skidded over to the CD player and clicked in the Wicked CD that Jinx had lent him and listened to Jinx's song again with the biggest goofy grin on his face that he'd ever had.


	9. Chapter 9

7th May

Tastes change, re-try something you say you don't like

_I think today's suggestion is kind of silly, if we know we don't like something then why would anyone want to re-try it? What do they think I am? Some five year old refusing to eat my vegetables because they look funny or something. I don't appreciate being patronised by my own diary._

_Please tell me you agree with me about how dumb this suggestion is._

_Jinx_

**You said you didn't like talking to me before remember? Have you changed your mind about that or are all opinions held by Jinx once forever set in stone?**

**KF**

…_smartass._

_Jinx_

"Agh!" Came the yell from inside Jinx's bedroom. A surprised Jinx with wet hair stuck her head into her bedroom to see a slightly smouldering Kid Flash on the floor of her bedroom.

"What happened to you?" Jinx asked walking towards him. She suddenly noticed the scorched cut in the shoulder of his suit and the singed flesh below it.

"Those dumb lasers outside your base happened to me." Kid Flash said irritably as he pulled off the mask to his suit and tugged the neck down until it came down to the top of his shoulder, with a hiss of pain he gingerly pulled it away from the wound.

"Fastest boy alive and you still get shot by some lasers?" Jinx retorted half heartedly as she knelt next to him and looked at the burn, it wasn't too deep but it looked like it'd be a painful one, it'd probably scar too.

"It was some sort of smart laser, they shot at where I was going to be just as I got there, it can't have been following me, I'm too fast for that." Kid Flash said shaking his head.

"Gizmo probably programmed in some prediction software or something, you probably take the same route here every time right?" Jinx murmured straightening up and grabbing a bottle of anti-septic from her bathroom cabinet along with a few balls of cotton wool.

"Yeah." Kid Flash groaned as Jinx touched his skin with the stinging fluid. Kid Flash couldn't believe how quickly Jinx reacted as the woosh of the door sounded, he found himself shoved on the floor, his injured shoulder prevented from contact with anything by a carefully placed knee, Jinx's blanket had only just settled on him by the time the other members of the HIVE five had entered the room.

"Where is he?!" Gizmo demanded of no one in particular as he burst into the room. Kid Flash felt panic thrum through his veins, he was in Jinx's room, cornered with his mask off and half his costume pulled off and he was wounded to boot. If they discovered him there it'd be over for him.

"Who? That red-headed speedster that just blew through here and trashed the place?!" Jinx snapped back in a hostile voice.

"Your room doesn't look any different to how it usually looks, how did he trash it?" SeeMore chipped in.

"What exactly are you implying eyeball?" Jinx growled threateningly.

"Nothing!" SeeMore squeaked.

"Where is he now then?" Gizmo asked again.

"How should I know? He's not here is he? If you want to find him go look yourself, you can write this room off as not containing heroes." Jinx snorted and tried to ignore the way she could feel Kid Flash tensing against her nervously.

"Good point." Mammoth rumbled.

"Why are you down on the floor?" Gizmo asked after a second.

"I'm tidying up after he trashed my room, a concept you five aren't familiar with I know. Now get!" Jinx ordered sternly. It was only a second or two after he heard the door shut and Jinx let out a shaky sigh that Kid Flash even dared to move.

"That was… close." Jinx breathed as Kid Flash sat up feeling his heart beat at what felt like a million miles an hour.

"Tell me about it." He agreed.

"You've got to go, and don't come back ever again. It's too dangerous, get out of here and trash anything you can on your way out to make it look like that was all you were here for." Jinx ordered firmly.

"But…" Kid Flash trailed off glancing at their diary. The words hung unsaid in the air _'I can't come back?'_

"Forget it. I'll keep it hidden, but you're not to come back. I'm not having you risking your life for some stupid diary. I guess I am going to have to re-try just talking to you like a normal person after all, now _go_." Jinx ordered. Kid Flash wiggled his shoulder back into his costume as quickly and delicately as he could before standing up and whilst still holding his injured shoulder running off and causing as much chaos in the base as he could and leaving in a completely new way to him in the hopes of not getting shot again.

Kid Flash sat in his bathroom and stared angrily at the singed wound in his shoulder with a pair of tweezers in his hand, the heat from the laser has melted some of his costume into the burn and if he didn't do anything about it the thing would likely turn nasty very quickly. Having poked and prodded at it for a while there seemed to be no simple and painless way to remove said fabric. Wally sighed before grabbing a raised piece of the melted fabric and yanking it quickly in the other direction, having let out a stream of curse words that would no doubt have got him grounded for months at home had his aunt heard him he dropped the extracted fabric to the floor. He was just shakily reaching for the bandages when the ringing of the apartment's phone stopped him. He frowned, no one called him, the only person who had called was his aunt once and Robin to check that he'd made it to the place ok and reminding him not to screw up looking after Jump city whilst he was away.

"Hello?" He asked warily as he picked up the phone.

"Hey." Jinx's voice greeted him quietly.

"Jinx!" He exclaimed in surprise almost dropping the phone from where it was cradled between his ear and his good shoulder.

"I guess you made it back ok without being shot by lasers anymore." Jinx said the teasing smirk evident in her voice. Kid Flash grinned, she'd been worried about him!

"Yeah I got back just fine. Hey, how did you get this number? I don't think I can even remember it myself." He laughed to himself.

"I _am_ a well connected villainess you know. I knew your address so it wasn't hard, I just had to get into the phone company's records which was embarrassingly easy actually." Jinx informed him.

"I'm sure that's several different kinds of illegal, I'll pretend I just gave you my number shall I?" Kid Flash said rolling his eyes.

"If you like." Jinx chuckled.

"So… I guess your lot have probably gone nuts about me trashing the place huh?" He asked remembering the devastation that he had caused their base as his way of getting payback for shooting him and separating him from Jinx.

"You microwaved their game system and made Gizmo's hard drive into a tetherball, they're not too pleased no." Jinx said flatly.

"Hey, they shot me and now I can't see you anymore, I was mad." Kid Flash muttered feeling the anger well up again.

"You can still see me, just not here." Jinx replied quietly.

"I know, I just… I don't like people taking away the things I care about." Kid Flash grumbled unhappily.

"You're such an only child." Jinx snorted.

"Hey that's not nice, anyway the fact that I have no siblings has no relevance." Kid Flash pouted knowing that Jinx would think that it defiantly did.

"Aw, I'm sorry. Hey, I'll bring dinner around to make it up to you." Jinx offered.

"Sounds great. I'll see you tonight then?" He smiling.

"Sure." Jinx replied and hung up. Kid Flash grinned to himself, the pain in his shoulder completely forgotten, not too long ago Jinx was barely talking to him let alone casually arranging dinner plans with him.

By the time Jinx arrived at seven he'd barely been out of the house, he'd stopped one carjacking simply because it was outside his apartment and loud but he couldn't do much with an injured shoulder, besides he deserved some time off. That and Jinx hadn't specified when she'd be over and he knew she'd kill him if he was out when she called.

"Hey." He greeted Jinx as he opened the door to his apartment, she was dressed in a simple jeans and T-shirt with her pink hair mostly concealed under a beanie hat that was conspicuous for the hot weather they were having.

"Hey. I brought food." Jinx said raising the bag full of Chinese food to him.

"Which you cooked so lovingly in a Chinese restaurant, I didn't know you had a second job." Wally teased.

"Hey, if you want me to take it away and stop you from having any dinner that's fine with me." Jinx shot back holding the bag with the food in behind her back.

"No! I like Chinese food! I'm sorry Jinx come in." Wally pleaded stepping back away from the door to allow Jinx in.

"That's more like it." She said poking her tongue out at him as she passed.

"So what did you get?" He asked as he followed Jinx into the kitchen.

"A bit of everything, I didn't know what you liked so I thought I'd hedge my bets." Jinx shrugged pulling the cartons out of the plastic bag that she'd brought them in.

"What did you tell your team when you left? They're going to start wondering where you're going to, especially if I can't come and see you at your base any more." Wally said quietly as he laid plates down on the kitchen surface. Jinx clenched her fists against the counter top at this.

"I'm thinking they might not have to worry about it for too long." Jinx muttered as she frustratedly removed the last few cartons from the bag.

"What do you mean by that exactly?" He asked carefully as he tried to suppress his anticipation at her answer.

"I'm not really sure, I mean…" Jinx trailed off, "I don't know what I mean." She finished rubbing her temples.

"I take it those five are really getting to you then?" Wally smiled sympathetically.

"You can say that again, but that's not it. I don't know, I just feel like I need to be making some sort of decision and that I've got some clock that's running out without me knowing how long I've got left." Jinx frowned as she scrunched up the empty plastic bag and threw it in the bin.

"I hope you don't feel like I'm making you decide too soon. Because I meant it when I said that I'd wait for you however long it took." He said soothingly.

"It's not that, I just always get this feeling before something bad happens. It's sort of a bad luck thing." Jinx explained as she popped the lids off of the foil containers of their food.

"You think something bad is going to happen?" Kid Flash asked worriedly.

"Probably not, it's probably just me being paranoid, things don't usually go well for me you know." Jinx said dismissively, Kid Flash bit his lip, that wasn't particularly good news either. Whilst he always attempted to distance himself from practicing armchair psychology Jinx saying things like that either meant that her powers were accurate and something bad was going to happen or Jinx felt really insecure in the current situation and felt like things between them were going to go horribly wrong. He wondered if that was a lack of trust in him or in herself.

"You listening or what?" Jinx frowned waving a hand in front of his face.

"Of course." He smiled pleasantly at her.

"What did I just say then?" Jinx asked with a disbelieving frown.

"I couldn't possibly talk with my mouth full, sorry." He replied as he stuffed a spring roll in his mouth, piled up his plate at supersonic speeds and ran to the sofa. Jinx rolled her eyes and filled her plate at a somewhat slower speed and joined him at the sofa. She put her feet up on the coffee table and settled down next to him on the sofa with her arm brushing against his, the film played in the background but Wally didn't really notice it, he and Jinx ate slowly talking occasionally and quietly. When he used his powers the whole world around him slowed down, it never felt like he ran fast, it felt like everyone else just pretty much stopped; it was as if around him the whole world just faded away and he was the only thing there in this silent tiny world that was just him and the ground that he was running on. But sitting here next to Jinx he felt the same feeling, the whole world outside of him could have vanished and he would have barely noticed, but he wasn't alone in the small bubble that was his world. It was just him and Jinx in this soft quiet acceptance and affection shown in gentle words and gestures, it was perfect and whole, he never wanted the moment to end.

"I'm so happy I could die right now Clem." A character on the screen voiced his emotions for him, he shifted his nearly empty plate onto the sofa arm and nestled into Jinx's side. Who would have known that this vicious, vivacious and violent girl would be so calm with him? So open, so carefree. He loved it. He felt Jinx turn her head to look down at his head resting on her shoulder, her lips grazed his temple in a barely there kiss. Normally he'd have felt the need to comment on this but he simply let the moment carry on and smiled to himself.

"Wow, where did the time go?" Jinx commented as she stretched her back out as the credits of the film rolled.

"Mmm." He murmured in agreement and watched her stand up and grab their plates and leave for the kitchen, Kid Flash stood up himself and feeling suitably domestic today decided to join her in the kitchen to clean up.

"I liked that film, I'm not sure about the memory erasing thing though." Jinx commented.

"What, there's no memory that you'd ever want to get rid of? No person you wish you'd never met?" Wally asked raising an eyebrow at her, he knew that there were moments in his hero career where he'd failed and he wished fervently that he could clear from his mind forever. He wasn't surprised that the business in the film of erasing people's memories was so popular, everyone has something they want to forget but can't.

"I don't think so no." Jinx said quietly.

"Really?" He asked surprised.

"Don't get me wrong," Jinx said tilting her head slightly, "I've met some pretty nasty people in my time, but… I guess everyone that you meet, every memory that you have shapes you. You wouldn't be you without them, there's no one I would erase."

"How deep." Wally grinned at her.

"I can surprise you sometimes." Jinx shot back with a devious smirk, he laughed and leant back on the countertop, his elbow pushing the bag that the Chinese came in off onto the floor.

"Oops." He remarked bending down to pick it up, as he did he realised that there was a slight weight in the bag that wasn't as empty as he presumed.

"Hey, fortune cookies!" He exclaimed happily as he fished them out of the bag.

"Don't open them." Jinx said coldly as she clattered the dishes into the sink.

"What? Why?" Kid Flash asked surprised, did she want them for herself or something? He watched Jinx's shoulders stiffen as she turned to look disdainfully at the wrapped treats.

"It's a bad luck thing, every time I get one of those and touch it or anything it predicts some nasty event that always comes true. I don't want that." Jinx said eyeing them angrily.

"What? That's not possible, it's not like they can make your future, they just say random stuff. They don't actually predict the future you know." He laughed slightly.

"Well they do with me, as soon as I touch it whatever silly fortune was in there turns into a horrible future for me." Jinx snapped angrily.

"Wait, wait. You do know a fortune can't just alter, it says what it says regardless of whether you touch it or open it." He explained patiently.

"Not with me, it's like a… quantum bad luck thing." She said shaking her head at him. She wished he'd just accept that she knew what she was talking about and drop the whole subject and leave the damned fortune cookies alone.

"What? Like Schrödinger's fortune cookie?" Wally laughed at the silliness of the whole thing.

"Yes! Can you not mock me please?!" Jinx demanded getting still angrier by the minute. He could tell from the slight glow in her eyes and the way her slender fingers clenched that she wasn't happy with him, but there was no way she was right.

"Oh come on, this is just silly. They're tiny sweet cookies, not doom incarnate." He said rolling his eyes and tossing a cookie at her, she shrieked and ducked it, it bounced off the wall behind her into the sink.

"Did you seriously just scream at a fortune cookie?" He laughed so hard he almost had to clutch his sides.

"Don't you DARE." Jinx threatened as he laughed and pulled another out of the bag, Jinx yelped and dodged this one too, the third however bounced off her shoulder in a bright flash of pink light and the sizzling sound that often accompanied one of her hexes.

"Whoa, did you just hex a fortune cookie?" He murmured leaning over where she knelt on the floor staring wide eyed at said confectionary treat.

"No," Jinx's voice came out like the sound of an oncoming storm, "you just threw a fortune cookie at me that activated my powers and now has cast a certain and awful event in my near future and it's all your fault."

"Whoa, hey. Nothing is gonna happen." Kid Flash said soothingly, he hadn't realised that she took this so seriously. He'd been so caught up in teasing her that he'd not been thinking.

"Oh well I'm so GLAD that you're so convinced. I'm so GLAD that you're so goddamn sure that you'll bet MY life on it!" Jinx hissed standing up and angrily shoving the fortune cookie into his chest.

"Jinx-" He began apologetically.

"You know what? Next time you're so keen to gamble with fate why don't you put your _own_ life on the line instead of mine?" She spat angrily.

"Your life isn't on the line Jinx, it's just a dumb cookie!" He pleaded with her.

"Well we'll see how convinced of that when I get run over or something and you go tearfully to my funeral only to get home, open the cookie and see the fortune that reads 'good luck dodging that honda'!" Jinx shouted at him as she shoved him backwards.

"Jinx, don't say that!" He gasped horrified at the idea, "I'd be devastated if that ever happened."

"Yeah well, _something's_ going to happen how and it'll be all your fault!" Jinx retorted as she stamped over to the door, wrenched it open, stormed outside and slammed the door shut behind her so hard that it practically fell off of its hinges. Kid Flash simply stood in his kitchen, the half crushed and still sealed fortune cookie held against his chest wondering what the hell had just happened.


	10. Chapter 10

Gizmo grumbled as he was forced to open the door to the base to whoever was persistently ringing on the door bell, with Kid Flash winding them up lately the doorbell was not a fun sound. He opened the door to find a moustached delivery man.

"Parcel for Miss…. Uh… I can't make out the name, the label must have gotten wet." The delivery man said embarrassed as he adjusted his large aviator sunglasses. Gizmo rolled his eyes, it must be for Jinx, she was the only Miss that they had there.

"I'll see that it gets to her." Gizmo said snatching the parcel from him.

"Could you just sign-" The delivery man started as he held out a pen and paper.

"Beat it snotbrain!" Gizmo shouted over his shoulder as he slammed the door shut and walked off.

"JINX! STUFF FOR YOU!" Gizmo yelled up the stairs as he carelessly tossed the parcel on the counter top. After a few moments Jinx's head poked out from the stairwell, she looked around perplexed.

"For me? But… I've not ordered anything." Jinx blinked surprised as she walked up to the parcel and looked down at it. The name was completely smudged and unreadable but the 'Miss' and their address was crystal clear.

"Thanks…" Jinx said absently as she carried the parcel back upstairs with her. Jinx sat on her bed and opened the parcel carefully listening for ticking just in case it was someone out to get her, having determined that the package was safe she opened it fully. Inside was a note and… a fortune cookie. Jinx smacked her forehead with her palm, either Kid Flash was really good at delivery boy disguises or Gizmo was more of a moron than she thought. She fished out the note.

**Jinx,**

**I'm really sorry about yesterday okay? I didn't realise you took this whole thing so seriously, so here's the cookie. I don't know if you want to open it or what. You want to see me today? I'd kind of like to see you, to say sorry and all. I'll be at the park from midday until… well… until you show up I guess. Please come?**

**KF**

Jinx glowered at the hated cookie and put the note back in the box without even touching it and shut the lid firmly as if she expected the sweet to jump out and attack her. She checked her clock, it was midday now, Kid Flash must have gone there straight after posing as a delivery boy. She sighed and debated leaving him there until dark to punish him, after all he deserved it for that fortune cookie stunt.

"You can wait all you like, I'm not coming." Jinx decided and hurled the box across to the corner of her room. She got up huffily and stomped to the door and down the stairs, what right did that boy have to just come calling for her and expect that a simple sorry would get her to come running to him at his beck and call? She was her own person damnit, he couldn't just treat her like that. What did he take her for? She was a villainess, she couldn't just be called upon at some feeble hormone powered teenage will!

Jinx stomped downstairs and regarded her team mates.

"We're going to rob something!" She announced to the room. The boys looked at her with surprise, Jinx had been forcing them all to lie low since she'd gotten them out of prison and she quite frankly hadn't seemed to care about crimes lately.

"Like what?" Gizmo asked after a few seconds of silence. Jinx frowned, she'd not thought that far ahead, or even at all. She simply wanted to spite Kid Flash and show him she couldn't just be controlled or bought or flattered.

"I- what does it matter? Just go… cause some havoc, we'll have a night on the town, a night of destruction and… stuff." Jinx insisted feebly.

"It's the middle of the day, how can we have a night on the town when-" Gizmo began with a frown.

"JUST GO!" Jinx snapped grabbing Gizmo and walking in the kind of way that suggested that if the others did not follow there would be pain in the near future, the boys followed as they always did.

Kid Flash, or rather Wally West as his current attire indicated him to be, looked at his watch, it was half one. Where on earth was Jinx? The continual whine of police sirens in the distance was starting to grate on him now, he'd sworn that he'd not leave this spot but he got the very clear feeling that Jinx wasn't coming. Still… she was already mad at him and it wouldn't do for him to go rushing off playing the hero and have her turn up and him not be there, she'd probably never speak to him again. He twitched and fidgeted a little more, park benches really weren't comfy at all; no wonder hobos were always so grumpy. The sirens still blared, they'd not moved for ages so clearly they were parked somewhere, a hostage situation, a hold up? Should he go look? What if Jinx showed? He twitched a little more, maybe he could leave a note? The sirens called him, they seemed almost louder now but he knew it must be in his mind, they made him antsy. He supposed he associated them with hero work and thus being in civvies and not moving was… wrong, he was conditioned to respond to them. Jinx would probably make some Pavlov's dog pun about him if she could hear what he was thinking. He wondered if there was anything in the fact that he seemed to associate everything with Jinx.

He fidgeted some more. He wondered if there was anything that he could not associate with Jinx. Food? No, food had become a him and Jinx thing lately, what with cooking and Chinese food which had gone badly. Running? No, he associated that with superpowers and hero work which in turn he associated with Jinx.

He tried a little harder, this game was starting to help block out the sirens. Home and family? Oooh, that was a little harder. He thought of his own family, a happy home, nice food and… food, there was the Jinx association, he was back to Jinx and food and eating with Jinx. A small voice in the back of his head thrust the idea of him and Jinx as a family, husband and wife, maybe kids. His eyes widened, that was… well, scary. He thought about it some more. Unlimited time with Jinx, that was good, she'd certainly never get boring… That was really more commitment than he'd ever thought about before but the idea wasn't unpleasant certainly. He shook his head, Jinx would probably skin him alive for thinking such things.

Surely there had to be something that he didn't associate with Jinx, he wasn't that obsessed with her was he? Um. He scratched his head, he had to think of something way out of left field. Coffee. No, that was Jinx too. Monkeys! That wasn't Jinx oriented! Ooh, he should take her to the zoo some time. …damnit. Showers! Kid Flash turned red as his brain combined the ideas of showering and Jinx… Jinx showering… or showering with Jinx. Oh dear. He **really** needed a distraction, Jinx would most certainly kill him for imagining that. Maybe he should go check out those sirens.

By the time he arrived on the scene as Kid Flash where all the police cars and sirens were he was…mostly distracted. He breathed in and out calmly, no thoughts of Jinx in his mind at all. No sir. Especially not ones like he'd been having previously. Then of course he saw the HIVE five, all… five of them? Jinx was nowhere to be seen. Now he really was thinking about her.

"What happened?" He asked a police officer who was trying to get some sort of confession out of Gizmo.

"No idea, Jinx is holed up in there, apparently these boys didn't get to steal anything. But she's not holding any hostages, making any demands or anything. The only thing she's done is hexed anyone who tries to get close to the building." The officer replied grimly. Kid Flash's eyes widened, this wasn't like Jinx. Well, it sort of was, but she'd not committed any crimes at all lately, in fact she'd seemed to be edging closer to him and away from the path of villainy. What had prompted this and what was she trying to do anyway?

"Why's she doing this?" He said aloud, more to himself than a question to the officer but he answered anyway.

"We've no idea, that's what I'm trying to get out of this pipsqueak." The officer replied, Kid Flash didn't even notice the ensuing fight as Gizmo gave the officer in question the finger for that remark.

"I'm going in." He replied in an almost dreamlike state. He walked carefully towards the door of what apparently had been an electronics shop, the door was twisted and bent in an unnatural way that suggested that it wasn't mammoth's handiwork, he breached the door and only just managed to kick into high speed fast enough to jump out of the way to avoid the pink surge that shot his way through the floor.

He landed awkwardly on the floor breathing heavily, he pushed himself up and noticed that a pipe in the floor had burst and the shop was filled with about an inch of water everywhere. He felt a shiver run down his spine, this wasn't right, if Jinx were holding this place hostage she'd be commanding, in charge and controlled, this looked like a giant disaster.

"Jinx?" He called out softly as he edged down an aisle, he watched wide eyed as a spark of pink flew down a shelf and leapt off of it at him, he ducked and behind him a TV melted. He turned around and watched as a whole shelf of electronic items melted and distorted.

"Jeeze… I feel like I'm a Dali painting." He muttered walking along.

"Jinx? Where are you?" He called a little louder as he avoided the broken glass of an exploded light bulb on the floor.

"Leave me alone!" Jinx's voice replied harshly from apparently nowhere, he turned around but he couldn't pinpoint the sound. He bit his lip, Jinx sounded… scared, angry, and more than a little frightened.

"You know I won't do that, where are you Jinx?" He replied as his eyes flicked around the dark shop, he peered through what remained of the shelves but couldn't see her on either side.

"I didn't ask for you! GO!" She screamed sounding unstable, next to him a lava lamp boiled and exploded violently. He lay pressed to the floor with his heart beating in his ears, he seemed to be okay but that was more than he could say for the glass filled electronic scoreboard that had just a split second ago been behind him.

"I'm not leaving Jinx, are… are you hurt?" He asked worriedly as he stood up and crept along the aisle, he didn't want to use his super speed and startle her, with her powers at this level who knew what would happen if he scared her.

"I said go!" Her voice cracked in a way that tugged violently at Kid Flash's heartstrings, she sounded like he did after he'd been crying. He came to the main electronics counter at the back, her voice had sounded like it had come from this way. Around him sparks were flying off of everything haphazardly, he glanced down at one of the panes of cracked glass behind the counter and saw a reflection of pink hair.

"Jinx?" He asked gently as he leant over the counter and looked at her upside down.

"Leave me alone." She muttered burying her head in her knees.

"What happened?" he asked as he climbed over the desk and knelt down in front of her.

"YOU HAPPENED!" She snarled at him, her eyes flaring up into a bright pink. An unnerving creaking sound alerted Kid Flash and Jinx to the fact that a giant crack was forming in the ceiling above her, Jinx squeaked and pressed her palms into her temples and squeezed her eyes shut. Kid Flash stared at her, he'd never seen her this way before. What did she mean that he happened? Was this just because she was still angry at him?

"Is this… because of the fortune cookie thing?" He asked timidly.

"No! Yes! I- leave me alone!" Jinx shouted over the roar of blood in her ears.

"What did I do? What's wrong Jinx?" He asked desperately as he felt the panic rise in his throat.

"I… I got your note, and I didn't want to come see you. You- you can't just DO that, you can't do that to me and then just think that sorry will make it okay, you can't… manipulate me like that!" Jinx hissed as sparks flew from her fingers against her will.

"Manipulate you? What do you mean? I'm not trying to manipulate you." He said soothingly as he reached out and touched her bare wrists.

"You ARE! I'm just some… pet project of yours! You're trying to make me less than I am, you're trying to take away me!" She snapped smacking him away, above them the ceiling creaked threateningly.

"Look, I didn't want to pressure you about the good/evil thing, I told you that you could take as much time as you want, it's all up to you. I'm not demanding anything Jinx." He whispered to her.

"It's not THAT! You're trying to make me into some nice girl, it's not about being good or bad, you can be a nice bad guy and a nasty good guy. You're not forcing me to be good you're forcing me to be _nice_." Jinx said disgustedly.

"So… why are you here then? I get it if you're mad at me and you think I'm trying to turn you into… whatever, even though I'm not. But what happened to you?" Kid Flash asked worriedly, he could let Jinx be mad at him later, right now whatever had set Jinx's powers off, which clearly weren't in her control anymore, was putting both of them in danger.

"As I said, you happened to me. I didn't want to just come running because you called, which is what you want. So… I figured I'd bring the boys and rob some place." Jinx muttered as she took deep breaths and tried to calm down.

"And when you got here…?" Kid Flash prompted studying her and trying to ignore the little pang of betrayal at the idea of her stealing again.

"I… I couldn't do it." Jinx breathed in a voice barely above a whisper, Kid Flash felt his heart leap at this, Jinx's sudden scowl at him informed him that this had clearly shown on his face and only made her madder at him.

"It's ALL YOUR FAULT! All I could think about is how disappointed you'd be in me. Can you believe that? I care about you being disappointed. And that's not me! You're changing me and I didn't ask for that, it's not FAIR!" Jinx said angrily as she pulled her knees close to her chest.

"And… you lost it. Thus the fact that it looks like world war three in here. The officer said that the boys didn't get a chance to steal anything, I'm guessing you stopped them." Kid Flash nodded finally getting it.

"I've not lost control like this in years, I can't… stop it. I've slowed it but I've still got no control." Jinx sniffed as all the anger seemed to drain out of her, a small wave of hex energy flickered out from her body aimlessly.

"I didn't want to do this to you, I didn't know I would." He mumbled shuffling in next to her under the desk.

"I hate you, you make me weak." Jinx growled tensing her hand and watching the sparks dance, she let go and they disappeared, she sighed, at least she was getting a little control back.

"Do you really mean that?" He breathed in a voice barely audible.

"You-" Jinx began but found herself cut off by a loud noise from the ceiling, she looked up like a deer caught in the headlights as a giant chunk of ceiling fell down towards her. The shoulder in her stomach winded her, almost as much as the fact that she was moving at what felt like a million miles an hour. When Kid Flash finally dropped her on the ground she was… elsewhere. Her hands underneath her told her she was on sand and what she could see of the clear blue sky around Kid Flash's head as he looked down at her panting told her she was probably at the beach.

"Don't… scare me like that." Kid Flash breathed, his arms still shaking as he held himself up over her.

"That was close." Jinx murmured for a lack of anything else to say. Kid Flash exhaled slowly and stood up.

"Do you really mean what you said? About me… about you and… us?" He asked staring at the ocean. Jinx sat up and looked around, they were in some sort of isolated cove.

"You make me weak, you've changed me. I don't like this me." Jinx replied after a moment or two. Kid Flash flinched at this.

"I never wanted to change you, I wanted you to change sides but I didn't want to change _you_. You know that don't you?" He asked looking at her with his face filled with concern.

"Of course you want to change me, you want me to learn to cook and you want me to be nice and not fight with you and you want me to come running whenever you so much as drop a note through my door. I never would have done any of that before." Jinx muttered as she dug the heels of her boots into the sand.

"No! I just wanted to make you happy, to give you somewhere to be comfortable. I don't want to change you, I love you just the way you are!" He yelled at her, his eyes widened and he clapped a hand over his mouth too late to stop the words coming out. Jinx stared up at him with wide pink eyes.

"I just… you were unhappy and I just wanted to change that. But… I guess I've just made things worse. I'm… sorry." He mumbled backing away and staring at the blurred sand through eyes filling with tears.

"You can't just leave me here! Where are we?" Jinx yelped jumping up.

"Jump, the beach is… that way, just walk around, the water's shallow." He said shakily before disappearing in a gust of wind and sand.

Jinx sat back down on the beach on her own and hated everything, most of all herself.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: dear god, this chapter just got hijacked by plot bunnies and dragged way off course. Heh, it's a bit longer but I think it's kinda fun, or at least _interesting_. Enjoy. ^_-

Wally West sat sullenly at the metal patio table outside his aunt's favourite coffee shop, he knew she always came by here this time of day. He supposed he could call but he didn't want to talk to his uncle with the way he was feeling and goodness knew he was always the first to the phone with how fast he was. He kicked his feet against the metal pole in the centre of the table, Jinx's words ran through his head again. Did she really hate him? Had he actually changed her? He slumped back in his chair and felt miserable and lonely.

"Fancy seeing you here." A knowing voice said by his side as a large mug of hot chocolate was gently placed in front of him.

"Aunt Iris! I didn't see you." He exclaimed surprised as he looked up at his aunt who was wearing a wry grin on her face.

"You boys never do." She smiled giving him an outrageously large hug in the way that only aunts can.

"Iiiiris!" He whined with a smile on his face, not that he minded getting hugs from his aunt but still, he had to show SOME pretence at objection.

"So, what's wrong? You only ever come see me when you feel miserable." His aunt questioned him as she sat down opposite him.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled feeling guilty at not visiting his aunt sooner, goodness knew that she'd done enough for him before.

"I didn't say it to make you feel bad, so out with it boy, what's wrong?" She said rolling her eyes at him. Wally relaxed slightly at this, his aunt was always a hard woman to place, she looked soft and middle aged and innocent but he knew that underneath her unassuming exterior she was quite the rogue. She'd been a reporter in her day, a good one too, she'd almost exposed his uncle until he admitted his identity and asked her to promise not to reveal it, she'd agreed and eventually they'd gotten married. He wondered if his uncle had assumed that marrying her would tame her somewhat, unfortunately for him it didn't, her tenacity knew no bounds and she was always pulling him and Wally up on anything she thought they were doing wrong. And her detective past as a reporter made it so that she always knew everything about everyone all the time, the woman could probably rival Batman, although no doubt she made better apple pies.

"How do you know I didn't just come here for your company?" Wally said challengingly, his aunt quirked an eyebrow at him and gave him a look that said she was not impressed. Wally's shoulders dropped, he should have known he couldn't get anything past aunt Iris, she knew him better than anyone else, he'd told himself that he'd just come here for some comfort but he acknowledged that probably he'd come for the advice. And his aunt did advice well, along with tea and sympathy, or rather hot chocolate and sympathy in his case.

"There's… this girl." He sighed relenting.

"Ah." His aunt said knowingly and sipped her tea.

"She's… amazing. She's bright and smart and independent, she's pretty and funny and mysterious too. And she's just so fearsome and powerful and I just never know where I am with her and… you'd actually probably quite like her." Wally laughed at the silliness of the situation, this sort of thing was probably what his uncle had said about his aunt once.

"Sounds like my kind of girl, so, what's the problem?" His aunt asked with a smile on her face.

"Well… she's not exactly a good girl if you know what I mean…. Well, she's a good person but… she's presently ah… on the other side." Wally admitted cringingly.

"Ah." His aunt said sagely.

"Well, that's not the problem, I mean, it _is_ a problem but not _the_ problem." Wally said shaking his head.

"You sure do seem to have a lot of them then." Iris said pointedly.

"Don't I know it, my life's been nothing but chaotic since I've met her." He sighed rubbing his temples, Jinx most defiantly had made his life more interesting since she'd shown up.

"Love has a tendency of doing that." She replied closing her eyes and drinking from her cup. Wally's eyes snapped open at this.

"I didn't say-" he began as the words that had slipped out of his mouth on the beach rang back to him.

"You didn't have to. I know that look Wally. But if her current… alliance isn't your problem then what is? And by the way if your uncle finds out about her and her side then it most definitely _will_ be your problem." She said warningly.

"You're not going to tell him are you?" Wally asked worriedly.

"Have I ever? Now spill." His aunt demanded kicking him under the table.

"Ow!" He whimpered rubbing his shin, "Okay, okay. I've been trying to convince her a little bit to switch sides, not that she needed much convincing, she hates her team and she's not happy. And believe me aunt Iris, if you met this girl you'd see why all I want is for her to be happy, so I told her that as much as I want her to switch sides I wasn't going to push her into anything." Wally explained as he warmed his hand on the side of his mug.

"Good boy." His aunt nodded.

"And… we've been getting closer and I thought I was making some progress with her, see, she's really guarded. She's had an awful time and I guess she doesn't trust easily, and I thought that she trusted me, or at least she was starting to. I mean she'd relax around me, so I thought everything was going just fine." He sighed unhappily, he really had thought that Jinx felt some kind of affection towards him, regardless of whether she returned his romantic intentions towards her. He'd hoped at least that she considered him a friend but… well, after yesterday at the beach it seemed that that wasn't the case.

"Go on…" Iris prompted.

"I think I said something wrong, well, I did say something wrong. I teased her when I shouldn't have and she shouted at me and left. So, I apologised, I asked her to meet me somewhere so that I could say sorry in person and try and make it up to her, I knew she'd be mad but…" He trailed off, she'd said this whole thing wasn't to do with the fortune cookie thing but… that'd been the start of it, that was where everything had started going wrong.

"But?" his aunt said softly. She watched her nephew sitting slumped in his seat bonelessly, the boy was an open book sometimes but she'd never seen him so obviously unhappy.

"She robbed somewhere, her powers got out of control, the roof nearly crushed her. I managed to get her out but she said some things. And I don't know what to do." Wally said stiffly.

"Well, what did she say?" Iris asked gently, clearly whatever it was this girl had said to him was what was causing his current state of melancholy.

"She said… that she hated me. That she hated what I do to her, she said that I've changed her, made her weak. She said that I make her less than she is." He replied quietly.

"I see." His aunt nodded.

"I don't want to change her, I don't want her to hate me, I don't want her to feel weak or anything like that! I don't know what I've done wrong!" Wally cried leaning forward with his head in his hands.

"Shhh," His aunt said soothingly rubbing his shoulders, "look, I bet your girl isn't used to boys like you that's all." She added.

"What do you mean?" Wally sniffed looking up at her.

"Well, you've asked a lot of her, even if you've said otherwise. And she's probably so used to not being able to rely on someone else that it's hard for her." Iris sighed.

"Well what can I do?" Wally begged desperately wanting an answer.

"There may not be anything you can do. Either she'll learn to do things differently and trust you or she won't, and I don't think you can help with either of those. From what you've said she's had a lifetime of broken trust and probably a few broken hearts too, she's got no reason to expect anything different from you." Iris sighed, Wally looked crushed at this.

"But… I am different." He sniffed, the hurt blatantly evident in his voice.

"Sweetie, _everyone_ is different." His aunt sighed.

"But…" Wally mumbled sadly.

"I know, look, Wally, you can't always save everyone. If she's as independent as you say she is then I'm not surprised she says you make her feel weak, she knows that she needs your help if she's to do what you want her to and she's probably not used to that, imagine how powerless you'd feel in her position." She pointed out.

"But I don't want her to feel like that, I never meant for her to feel that way." Wally insisted.

"I know honey, but… that seems to be the case. Love can be a funny thing my dear, sometimes if you love something enough you have to be prepared to let it go because otherwise you can destroy it." His aunt sighed sympathetically.

"I can't just let her go, she deserves better than the life she has and… and I need her Iris, I don't think I can be without her anymore." Wally said shakily as the realisation hit him, he couldn't imagine a life without Jinx anymore. As if to taunt him his daydream about his future with Jinx came back to sting him, the idea of no Jinx burned that much more painfully against the idea of them as a family.

"It may not come to that Wally, but if you were to be in a situation where you had to let her go, you must do." His aunt said sternly.

"But I can't." Wally said shaking his head defiantly.

"It may not be that time yet, if you thought that you were indeed close, that she did trust you then maybe she will come back to you, the things that we love the most and let go have a way of doing that. Maybe she just needed you to know how she felt." His aunt offered hopefully.

"She's not particularly articulate about her feelings so… maybe." He mumbled feeling despondent.

"All you can do right now is hope, hope that she knows how much you need her and hope that she trusts you even a little bit of what she should. You can't do any more than that." She said soothingly.

"I guess." Wally sighed standing up slowly.

"Good luck." His aunt offered feeling bad at having to deliver bad news to her nephew.

"I don't have any luck." Wally muttered leaving the café. His aunt sighed unhappily and ignored the small sonic boom from around the corner and looked at Wally's untouched hot chocolate and felt bad.

Wally dragged himself miserably up the stairs to his apartment, usually seeing his aunt made him feel better and optimistic about things but now he just felt terrible. He wondered if his aunt wishing him good luck meant that she knew he was talking about Jinx, not that it mattered by the looks of things, clearly he'd messed up with Jinx and would probably never see her again if his aunt was anything to go by, and he was supposed to be okay with letting her go like that? It wasn't fair, he guessed Jinx's bad luck was contagious after all.

"Oh." Jinx's voice jolted him out of his reverie, she was stood at the top of the stairwell looking down at him. He froze and stared up at her.

"I was just leaving." Jinx said by way of explanation, Wally opened his mouth to plead for her not to go but then his aunt's words rang in his head and he shut his mouth and simply nodded.

"I… brought you this." Jinx said uncomfortably as she threw a white box down the stairs to Wally, he caught it and she walked further down the steps towards him. He opened the box as she stopped warily a few steps from him, he looked in and saw the fortune cookie and his note in the box, this was the same box he'd dropped off at her house yesterday, it still even had the delivery sticker that he'd faked on the top still. He winced, was this like the exchanging of each others things that couples did after a break up? The painful returning of gifts and mementos and borrowed items?

"Okay." He mumbled staring down at the box at he closed it again.

"I just hated having that thing around, it's like the fortune in it is just getting worse and worse for being near me." Jinx said scuffing her foot on the stairs, Wally felt his heart sink, so that was all she'd come here for then?

"I'll keep hold of it." He murmured moving past her. He stared down at the floor not trusting himself to look at her, he walked by her black and purple shoes until the hand on his arm stopped him.

"So… apparently I'm an ass." Jinx laughed weakly. Wally looked up at her startled, Jinx shifted under his wordless stare and looked away.

"Can we go inside or something? I think one of your neighbours called the cops, I've been loitering outside your place for hours so… yeah." Jinx mumbled.

"I- you're not leaving?" He blinked stunned.

"Fine, I'll go then." Jinx snapped back as she stomped off down the stairs.

"No! That's not what I meant!" Wally squeaked running after her and grabbing her by the elbow.

"Forget it, I just came around to apologise but clearly-" Jinx muttered shaking him off.

"Clearly I'm an ass." He finished for her. Jinx looked up at him warily, he looked stressed and tired and more than a little bit scared, she relaxed slightly.

"Come inside? Please?" He offered holding out his free hand, Jinx looked at him uncertainly before sighing and taking his hand as he lead her up the stairs to his floor. Wally turned the key in the lock and shouldered his way into this apartment before holding the door open for Jinx to follow.

"How come you didn't let yourself in?" He asked quietly as he shut the door behind him.

"It didn't feel right." Jinx muttered still feeling sore about Kid Flash's unusually cold and detached manner. Wally nodded silently and went into the kitchen to place the box down on the kitchen counter top, he stared down at the box, why had Jinx come? She said to apologise but… that didn't feel right there had to be more to it than that.

"You said you came here to apologise?" he asked looking up at Jinx who loitering near the sofa.

"Yeah, god you're pushy today." Jinx frowned feeling irritated with him.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. I meant what did you come here to apologise _for_?" he sighed rubbing his forehead.

"Oh, for being nasty yesterday. I didn't mean that I hated you, I don't. I shouldn't have said that." Jinx mumbled feeling embarrassed for attacking him over a misunderstanding, again, she seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"I don't care about that." Kid Flash frowned angrily, "I get that you got mad and said something spiteful, we all do that. The only thing I wanted to hear you say that you didn't mean is that I make you feel weak."

Jinx bit her lip and sat down on the arm of the sofa and pulled at the edge of her dress, she really wished that she hadn't opened her big mouth in the first place.

"You do though." She mumbled pulling at her pink hair and chewing the edges of it in her mouth she tried to ignore Kid Flash flinching at her words at the edge of her vision.

"I don't want that though! I mean, how do I make you weak? Tell me whatever it is and I'll change it, I don't care what it is!" Kid Flash said desperately as he appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye, he looked distressed and desperate.

"You know me, I don't need anyone. And I don't need anybody's help. Ever." Jinx said firmly.

"I know." He said holding his hands up openly as he remembered his aunt's words about Jinx's self reliance.

"But… I know that… this is different. I've seen what happens to villains that try and go hero on their own, they make it a week before they end up in the morgue, you just have a giant target on your back from both sides, you can't fight everyone, the only way to change is by the other side taking you in. Helping you." Jinx added distastefully.

"So… you don't want to change because you'd need my help." He murmured already seeing where this was going, he knew all to well that he couldn't maintain seeing Jinx if she decided to recommit to the other side.

"No, I just… I don't want your help. But I know that I need it, and I hate that." Jinx said shaking her head and glaring down at the carpet as if it were the cause of all her problems.

"But I can help, I won't let you down I swear, you can trust me!" Wally insisted earnestly, was that was Jinx was afraid of? That he'd let her down like everyone else had? He knew that he'd be different but then his aunt was right, everyone thought that they'd be the one that was different and so few people actually were.

"I don't want to trust you, it means I can't do this myself. If I trust you and this goes wrong I'll be so much worse off! And the whole thing is out of my control!" Jinx hissed clenching her fists. Wally's eyes widened, that was it, control. Jinx's problem was with control, she needed to be in charge. She only felt safe when things were done on her terms, she reacted badly when she felt like he was trying to get her to come see him whenever he felt like it because she wasn't the one controlling the situation, she felt at a disadvantage. He could see now, no doubt everything in her life went badly for her unless she felt like she was in the driving seat, her powers relied on her self control, her position in her team worked on the basis of her control. But this relationship with him wasn't the same, they were equal in the fact that he couldn't make her life any harder than she could make his but as soon as it got to changing sides he was the one doing all the work and in her mind, with all the power.

"I get it… it's a leap of faith. And you're not used to them." He breathed reaching up a hand to stroke her face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise. I guess for someone so fast I'm kind of slow." He laughed quietly as he pressed his forehead to hers, his hand slid to her neck and he felt her muscles relax slightly.

"I'm just… scared. And I hate that. Nothing scares me." Jinx said gritting her teeth.

"You're only human Jinx, everyone gets scared, and this is pretty scary. I would be." He offered leaning back and looking at Jinx's pale face.

"Yeah… but you're a big girl." Jinx smirked deviously as she opened her eyes and looked back at him.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

"It's not my fault you're a yellow belly!" Jinx laughed shoving her hands under his T-shirt, they both froze at this action. Kid Flash stood frozen with Jinx's hands pressed against his stomach and Jinx had started going red as her hands remained there.

"You're… not wearing your uniform under there." She stated blankly with her hands on his taut tanned skin, she'd expected his appropriately yellow coloured uniform to be under there, how else could he switch between identities so fast?

"No." He smirked biting his lip to hold back the laugh that he could feel building in his chest.

"Ah." Jinx mumbled as she slowly pulled her hands away and tried to look anywhere but the slightly sniggering face of Kid Flash as he failed miserably at repressing his laughter.

"Shut up." Jinx muttered turning redder.

"Hey, I'm not complaining, I was expecting a serious conversation but if you wanna feel me up instead go ahead." He laughed at her embarrassment.

"Don't make me hex you." Jinx snapped back, suddenly an idea struck her.

"Actually… let me. I want to try something." Jinx smiled as her eyes glowed and her fingers crackled, Kid Flash jumped back slightly at this.

"You want me to let you hex me? Willingly?" He said raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. You want me to trust you? So trust me." Jinx said pointedly. Kid Flash stared at her, she seemed to be deadly serious, he bit his lip. Jinx was going to hex him, was it because he laughed at her? But then again… she had said to trust her and he was demanding so much more of her. So if a little hex would make her feel better then he supposed he was going to have to go through with it, he stepped cautiously forward. Jinx smiled at this as she took hold of his T-shirt and pulled him closer, she raised her hand and sparks flew wildly between her fingers. She breathed in and out slowly and watched as she sparks calmed down to a carefully controlled glow.

"Do you trust me?" Jinx asked as she raised her hand to his throat hovering no more than an inch from the skin.

"Yes." He said shakily. Jinx breathed deeply and pressed her fingers to the skin of his throat, she felt his adam's apple bob against her palm as her fingers curled around his neck. Kid Flash inhaled shakily as foreign sensations danced through his neck and his mouth, tiny jolts of… something ran wild through his nerves and flicked off of his taste buds, he fleetingly tasted treacle for a second or two. The air in his throat seemed to hum and his skin broke out in goose bumps but it certainly wasn't painful at all, instead it was almost ethereal and magical.

"Oh wow." He breathed stunned.

"When they taught me how to control my powers I found this level, apparently it's something to do with nerve endings and chakras or something. See?" She said moving her other hand under his shirt and rested it over his sternum. She focused and her hand became aglow, Kid Flash's eyes widened as his chest was filled with the sensation of warmth, his skin tingled and his heart fluttered uncontrollably.

"That's… amazing." He murmured impressed.

"It's odd, it doesn't work unless it's in specific places, look." She said sliding her hand lower over his ribs, the sensation petered away until her hand slid low over his stomach below his belly button. The sensation that flared up then was… different certainly. He felt a burning heat coiling in his belly and his nerve endings all over his body cried out in ecstasy, Jinx was saying something about it not working anywhere but the chest and throat but he could hardly hear her. He felt blood pounding in his ears and his whole body flushing red, Jinx clearly was unaware of _these_ particular side effects. He pulled her hand away and made a note to check precisely what kind of pasts her instructors had if they'd taught her _that_.

"What's wrong?" Jinx asked puzzled.

"I- nothing." He said smiling shakily at her as he tried to ignore the fierce blush he could feel burning under his skin.

"You've gone all red." Jinx noted curiously.

"I- it… must be a side effect." He lied shaking his head.

"Funny, that's never happened before." Jinx mused staring at her hand, she let her fingers spark a few times, and raised what would have been an eyebrow before looking back up at Kid Flash.

"So… you were saying…" He tried hopefully to move the conversation on.

"Did that work on you? I mean it's never done anything anywhere else, what did you feel?" Jinx asked persistently as she idly kicked her feet against the sofa.

"Uhm, nothing. It just… ah… doesn't matter. So, you were saying something about needing my help?" He stammered backing away from Jinx as she stood up from the sofa arm with a devious glint in her eyes.

"Tell me." She smiled predatorily as she raised a glowing hand towards him.

"It's nothing!" He squeaked as his back collided with the wall behind him.

"If it's just nothing then why not tell me?" Jinx grinned advancing towards him. Kid Flash's eyes darted to the side, if he didn't move soon Jinx would have him, he kicked into high speed and dashed past her and stopped on the other side of the room with the sofa and coffee table safely between them.

"Just drop it Jinx, you can't catch me." He said reasonably. Jinx frowned and pouted at this, Kid Flash relaxed slightly, she knew she couldn't catch him especially when he was this desperate for her not to find out what happened, besides it was a fair fight, just him and her.

"I don't need to catch you." Jinx smiled suddenly as she took a step or two forward. She tucked her left hand behind her back and let it glow slightly; she allowed herself a second to revel in Kid Flash's puzzled look before she raised her index finger on her right hand and shot the ceiling lamp above her. She saw the blur of movement from Kid Flash just as the sound of the lamp detaching from the ceiling reached her ears, she felt the impact of him grabbing her and pulling her out of the way. Her glowing left hand sprang forward as fast as she could react and found the warm skin of his stomach, he seemed to loose his balance and stumble forward at this he managed to catch himself with an outstretched arm on the wall behind Jinx. Jinx watched in fascination as Kid Flash's already flushed face burned darker as his head fell forward onto her shoulder, he inhaled shakily and she felt the muscles under his skin melt at her touch.

"Oh my god." Jinx's eyes widened, "You're actually getting off on this!" She laughed pulling her hand back. It seemed to take Kid Flash a second before he regained control of his muscles but the horrified and embarrassed 'please can the earth just swallow me up now please' expression on his face was so priceless that Jinx knew she'd remember it for the rest of her life.

"Oh God, kill me now." Kid Flash muttered his face as red as his hair now.

"Oh this is PRICELESS!" Jinx cackled uncontrollably. Kid Flash winced and stepped out of Jinx's reach in case she decided to try again, her eyes were streaming with tears of laughter now, he winced, at least she was having some fun at his expense.

"My powers do _that_ to you! Oh man that's just… brilliant!" Jinx giggled doubling over with laughter now. Kid Flash twitched at hyper speed and tapped his foot impatiently, he really didn't see what was so freaking funny about the whole situation.

"Hahah, next time I-" Jinx began still laughing slightly.

"Next time I'm just gonna let the damn lamp fall on you!" Kid Flash snapped disappearing off in a high speed blur to the bathroom and slamming and locking the door behind him.

"Aww, come on! You've got no sense of humour!" Jinx called out after him. No reply came from the bathroom, Jinx straightened up wiping the last of her tears from her eyes and made her way to the bathroom door.

"Hey sulky-pants, come out." Jinx said kicking the door, still no reply came from behind the door. Jinx rolled her eyes, she could practically feel him pouting from here.

"Come out and I promise I won't do it again?" Jinx offered leaning against the wooden door, she listened carefully but still no reply, not even a muttered sulky okay. Jinx sighed, so he was going to be like this was he?

"Okay… come on out and I promise I will do that again." Jinx smirked at the door.

"JINX!" Kid Flash's scandalised voice exclaimed from inside the bathroom.

"Oh so you _are_ still alive in there." Jinx snickered to herself.

"Hey, listen… come out. I need to ask you something and I don't want to have to repeat myself okay?" Jinx said seriously, she heard shuffling sounds coming from inside the bathroom and heard at he placed his hand on the door handle.

"Only if you call it even for the fortune cookie thing." Kid Flash's muffled voice said from behind the door.

"Fine! Just come out already." Jinx huffed irritably. She heard the lock on the door click open and Kid Flash peered warily out for any glowing hands before emerging and regarding Jinx suspiciously.

"I'm not going to say this twice got it?" Jinx said sternly.

"Okay…" he said slowly. Jinx shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, she looked the same way she had right before any time when she'd found it necessary to run away from him.

"I… I need your help. To change sides." Jinx sighed looking him straight in the eye.

"You're sure?" He asked cautiously, Jinx glared at this as if she was offended at the idea that she'd ever ask for something like that without being sure.

"Yes, I'm sure." She growled.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked smiling warmly at her.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I know a lot of people have been wanting me to update this for a long time so I finally have, I've been at a bit of a roadblock with this story in that I know what's happened before and I know what's going to happen in a few chapters but the bit in the middle is somewhat of a blank, so bear with me. I also apologise if my updating speed drops at the moment, I'm in the middle of my exams for my final year at university so yeah… anyway, enjoy!

Jinx grinned insanely to herself as she stuffed clothes in her bag, she didn't need many to be honest as she was packing all of her clothes that weren't her villain outfits, and that wasn't all that much. She'd not really decided yet whether or not to keep her outfit if and when she turned good, but if she did she suspected that she'd have to make some alterations to it, she'd still be dark obviously just not so evil looking. She went over her mental checklist, she'd emptied all of her bank accounts and siphoned her money into one new one under a fake name which she'd just made herself an ID for, it would take her a few days to steal a proper identity and then she could assume that one as a more permanent solution. She'd packed all the possessions that she really couldn't stand to loose and combed her room carefully for any trace of Kid Flash's presence, the last thing she wanted to do was to give the boys a clue to why she'd left and where she was. Not that they'd probably be bright enough to pick up such a clue.

Jinx surveyed her room one last time and was satisfied that she'd not missed anything, she then opened the window and swinging gracefully out of it grabbed the drainpipe and slid down silently. She grinned to herself, it felt like being a teenager sneaking out of her parents house, except she didn't have parents although she was running off with a boy she knew the people in that house wouldn't approve of at all.

Wally West lounged casually on his sofa with the TV blaring out some talk show, in reality despite his carefully choreographed casual body language he was shaking inside, he wouldn't even have noticed if the TV had grown legs and walked off, although his stress levels were skyrocketing he'd heard somewhere that if you looked relaxed eventually your body would relax. At the moment he was considering that statement to be absolute nonsense, he just felt stressed and marginally silly in his fake relaxed pose. What if Jinx didn't show up? What if her team caught her? What if she decided to be stupid and make a big thing out of leaving to her team and got attacked or arrested or whatever it was villains did to their own when they turned. What if Rouge caught her?

His heart hammered away at a rate that would surely terrify any medical professional and when the knock came on the door his blood pressure spiked so hard that doctors would probably have put him in intensive care. Nonetheless he leapt up shamefully eager and ran to the door and wrenched it open, Jinx's hand was still up against where the door had been, he wondered for a second just how fast he'd actually run to the door, it was hard to keep track sometimes.

"That… was fast." Jinx blinked slightly shocked. He stared at her for a second, she was in jeans and an old red t-shirt, her hair still brilliantly pink was tied up in a low ponytail at the base of her skull and flowed out from it erratically. He'd never seen her look so casual and still so… so Jinx, he thought she'd never looked more beautiful.

"Hi." He breathed sure that his emotions were probably playing rather obviously across his face.

"So I brought all of my stuff." Jinx announced as she slipped by him into the flat and dropped her bag by the door.

"That's everything?" He blinked surprised.

"I travel light." Jinx grinned at him over her shoulder.

"So, what now? What's the plan?" he asked knowing by now that the best way to deal with Jinx with this subject was to ask her what she wanted to do, and indeed she seemed to be reacting better to this method. She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully and made an indecisive sound.

"I'm not sure, I've got all my money, it'll take me a little while to manufacture all the proper papers for a plausible new identity but I suppose I could get on that. I'll need those before I can get a job and I guess at some point we've got to get in touch with the Titans about me." Jinx said pulling a face at that last thought, she wasn't sure she wanted to be there for that conversation.

"Well, it's up to you. You're more than welcome to hang out here for as long as you want and do things at whatever order and timing you want to. It'll be nice having you here, that and when my uncle comes looking for me when he finds out about you it'll be nice to have backup when he tries to skin me alive." Wally grimaced as he picked Jinx's bag up for her and dropped it on the sofa, he really didn't like the idea of Barry chasing after him.

"Your uncle?" Jinx frowned hopping up onto the kitchen counter top and shuffling until she was sitting comfortably.

"The Flash." Wally explained just imagining the oncoming lecture.

"You're related? So it's a genetic thing then, the superspeed?" Jinx asked interestedly. Kid Flash seemed uncomfortable at this, he always was on the topic of family. Although, Jinx considered, she could hardly think of him as Kid Flash, the boy standing before her in a loosely buttoned pale blue shirt with a plain white T-shirt under it was hardly the superspeed hero everyone though of at the name. He just looked… well, normal. Well, more than normal, he looked gorgeous, his blue eyes seemed to almost glow with the blue that he was wearing, she certainly preferred it to the red and yellow.

"No, just an amazing coincidence, he's my uncle by marriage. I- what are you grinning at?" Kid Flash asked suspiciously, it was true, Jinx was grinning in that slightly unhinged way that tended to make him nervous, the last time she'd grinned like that she'd pressed a glowing hand to his stomach and he'd been reduced to vowel sounds.

"I'm just thinking how it's funny, what this whole thing says about me." Jinx chuckled slightly.

"What what says about you?" He questioned raising a red eyebrow at her.

"I've run off with a boy, quit my whole lifestyle, abandoned my friends and I don't even know your name!" She laughed swinging her legs off of the surface of the counter. Kid Flash's eyes widened, she was right, he never had told her his name, not his real name. He'd never been certain enough of her for it, but he supposed he couldn't get much more certain of her now could he?

"It's West, Wally West." He said simply, Jinx laughed at him.

"That works a little better if your name happens to be Bond, James Bond, but I'll settle for Wally West. Pleased to meet you." Jinx snickered holding out a hand, Wally rolled his eyes and took it and suddenly Jinx pulled him forward towards her perch on the counter top.

"Gotcha." She teased twisting his arm in a lock that whilst not painful clearly would be if he tried to move. He laughed with her and rested his head on her shoulder happily.

"Hey… stand up." Jinx said her voice suddenly a fair bit more serious and interested in whatever it was, she wrapped a leg around his lower back and hips and pulled back forcing him to straighten up and simultaneously trapped him against her and the countertop she sat on. He pulled his head back, he was going crosseyed from looking at her so close, they were nose to nose now but Jinx was staring up at his hair. She wound her fingers through it and inspected him and idly scratched soothingly at his scalp, he smiled a stupidly happy smile at her.

"Oops." She said biting her delicious looking lips. He was transfixed for a second before the word registered.

"Wait- oops? Oops what?" He asked concerned.

"I guess when I dyed your hair I didn't get it quite right, your roots are darker than the rest of your hair. Damn, that's going to look odd growing out." Jinx frowned unhappily.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine. How different are they anyway?" He asked, he'd always thought the colours were pretty close when he'd seen it in the mirror.

"You natural colour has got more gold in it, it's richer. It makes my red look so washed out in comparison." She said her mouth twisting into a disappointed grimace, he felt a little flutter in his chest at the possessive term, his hair was _her _red.

"I like your red." He murmured rubbing small circles at the bottom of her back with his thumb.

"It looks wrong." She said shaking her head, Wally rolled his eyes, it was nigh impossible to pay this girl a compliment. He smiled to himself and leaned his face into the hollow between her neck and her shoulder.

"So…" He said against her skin, "I had these rules, that I tried to set out for myself about what I could and couldn't before when you were still deciding, I didn't want you to decide things for the wrong reason. I guess they doesn't apply now."

"What were they?" Jinx asked interested. She felt him smile against her skin, she was just about to badger him about him not having answered when he pressed a slow kiss against her neck. She froze half in shock and half in disbelief, he moved his head slightly and licked a line up her neck just above where she could feel her pounding arteries lay and nipped the skin there with his teeth. She regained some mental composure and pressed her hand firmly against his chest, she had expected him to be forced back away from her but it seemed he was far stronger than she'd expected him to be and a horrible notion surged through her brain that she might not be able to push him off. His shoulders moved back from her slightly and he removed his mouth from her neck but still stayed where he was.

"K-kid… don't…tell me this is why you did this." Jinx said feeling ice in her veins as she stared blankly at the opposite wall.

"No." He said firmly as he pushed himself far enough away from her to see her properly.

"So… why?" Jinx asked him shakily?

"Why what? Why did I want you to change sides? Or why do I want to kiss you?" He asked in a voice that was almost a purr.

"Both." Jinx frowned down at him.

"In order, because you were unhappy before and better than that and secondly because you're amazing." He chuckled at her. Jinx frowned uncertainly at this, he ran a hand across her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner, she let out a small encouraging sigh at this.

"So you didn't just do this because…" Jinx trailed off, her question hanging clearly in the air.

"No." He said fiercely to her. Jinx's gaze dropped away from his eyes and rested on his blank shirt instead, she nodded slowly after a while.

"Okay…" She mumbled quietly as if she was trying the idea on for size as she was saying it. She leant forward and dipped her head and kissed him on the lips carefully and experimentally, she giggled quietly as she felt his whole body buzz happily against her, it felt strange on her lips.

"You know what everyone's going to think though…" she said quietly to him.

"Let them, I don't care." He replied biting her bottom lip. Jinx grinned suddenly, the movement of her mouth pulling her lip suddenly out from between his teeth, he pulled backwards slightly and her toothy predatory grin swam into his vision.

"I'm glad you're not a telepath right now." She laughed darkly as her eyes sparkled mischievously.

"I'm not." He replied really wishing he could know whatever it was that she was thinking to make her look at him like that, he liked that look, that look spoke of things that he would almost certainly like.

"Maybe I should just show you then." She purred raising a glowing hand before his face.

"Oh." He breathed his face colouring.


End file.
